When Everything Changes
by Crossover Diva
Summary: OC-centric story about Allison, a water elemental who joins the X-men her senior year. She'll face many hardships as she learns what it means to be a friend, a lover, do the right thing and stay true to herself, even when it's difficult. OC/SAM, ROMY, Etc
1. The Tough Girl

I originally wrote this story back when I was in high school. For those of you born after the year 1995, you would consider me to be _old. _I have actually been informed of this by my niece (who is circa 1995). In reality, I'm just out of college by one year and just now getting married. For those of you like-minded to my niece, _No_, I am not going to get preggers any time soon. Just thought I'd clarify that I'm not _that _old.

This story only got halfway published under the name "Everything's Constantly Changing" before life started to get in my way. The story however continued to live on and is now actually finished on my hard drive. However, I finished writing it in a style that I don't particularly like anymore. So now I'm rewriting the whole darn thing (like I'm also doing with my ROMY series) in a style that I feel is not only more representative of me as a writer, but also more interesting and descriptive for you the reader. I hope you enjoy.

**FYI:**  
>I do not own the X-men. I do own the OC. That's why she is an OC. Isn't that cool?<br>Also I write this as a tribute to the awesomeness that is Samuel Guthrie. He deserves far more loving than he gets in the fan-dom normally.

**Chapter 1: The Tough Girl**

Allison navigated her pick up truck down the long winding road to the Frederick farm. Upon reaching the farmhouse, she pulled over and allowed her only passenger, Missy, to disembark and collect her gear from the bed. They waved to one another as Missy headed not towards the house but the barn. Allison just shook her head. Missy's brother, Mark, had painted a strike zone target on the back wall and built her a pitcher's mound. Missy's determination would keep her out there throwing softballs until either her father told her to stop spooking the cows or her mother called her in for dinner.

She was about to shift the truck back into drive, when a blonde, blue-eyed boy appeared in her driver's side window. "God, Mark, you nearly gave me a heart attack." She stared at him, taking in his broad shouldered appearance and well tanned features. He had the rugged good looks that made girls melt and actually find the notion of farmboys appealing.

"Sorry, Spank. How'd she do today?"

Allison held her hand out flat and then rocked it back and forth. "Ehh...okay. Only one fit today."

Mark nodded in understanding that his sister was more than a little touch and go sometimes. "Well, that's better than yesterday's practice."

Allison nodded in agreement. Yesterday had been particularly rough. As her catcher, Allison was all too aware of Missy's tendencies to throw a fit when her aim started to slide. This was well known, not only on our their own softball team, but on others too. She had the speed, but she was still young and working on her aim and it had fallen to Allison in her senior year to coach the hysterics out of the rising star. As Mark and Allison talked, they could hear what sounded like rapid fire gun shots as Missy was beaming the side of the metal barn with softballs.

"She's been doing that ever since she saw you hit the button to start the milking machine with a throw," Mark said thumbing towards his sister.

"It's a lot different tossing down to second base overhand than it is to try and pitch underhand at sixty miles per hour or more," Allison chuckled. "How's Bessy?"

Mark smiled at the mention of his favorite cow. He had raised her from a calf and had taken her to all of the local county fairs for years now. "Great actually. She's due in about a week. And then I guess I get to start the process all over again." There was no resentment in his voice. He truly loved his life on the farm. "How about you? You doing okay?"

"Yeah, of course. Why'd you ask?"

"Well," he started scratching the back of his head, "Missy told me 'bout your fainting spell and you do look a little pale. The dehydration things just has me worried, that's all."

"Look, the doctor's can't find anything wrong. So I doubt it's anything more than just the heat. Besides, you try wearing all that catcher's gear and tell me it's not an extra fifty degrees inside there. And did you forget I'm over half Irish? Pale is what I do," Allison said with a wink. It was true, she never did get a tan, even for trying.

Mark frowned not quite buying her answer and decided to change the subject. "Big game Monday, huh?"

"You could say that. It's just Northern Bedford. Think you'll make it?"

"As long as my dad doesn't insist I milk the cows or something."

"God, it some old rivalry that no one remembers how or why it started, just that it started before our parents were even in school. Think it'll ever end?"

"Nah, it's too much fun beating them in football season," Mark smirked remembering the two suffering defeats that they'd delivered since their sophomore year. "Absolutely thanks to our super kicker."

The corner of Allison's mouth twitched up into a grin. Mark had convinced her to try out for football the year before and she'd made it as a kicker. Nearly everone in school had been surprised that a girl had made the squad at all, let alone taken as many hits and sacks as she had. "I'm not that good."

"Yeah right! When we won states, you were this close to making national news for being the only female state football champion." For emphasis, he held up two fingers barely a half inch apart. "If it wouldn't have been for the Michael Jackson fiasco, you'd have been on CNN."

"I doubt that very much," Allison said rolling her eyes.

"You're too modest. Coach Chonko got a call from them asking for game footage. I doubt they cared about us farm boys."

"I'm just another one of the guys, and you know it."

"Yeah, uh huh. You just happen to have your own personal padding and can switch to running back at the last minute in the middle of a state championship game."

Allison just reached through the window and patted Mark's stomach. "Keep it up and you'll have your own extra padding."

"Read for boot camp to start?"

"You make it sound like Albright and Chonko are devil incarnate. Summer practices are a cake walk and you know it."

"True, it is always fun to watch you show up half the team in the weight room."

Allison again rolled her eyes at his exaggerations. "That's only on the squats and it's because I'm a catcher too," she said punching him in the shoulder.

"Got any plans for Saturday?"

"I dunno. I might be working. I have to check."

"You've got too much on your plate, take a break," he insisted.

"Well, give me a minute and I'll call for my schedule," she said turning to dig through her glove box. She came up empty and turned around to look into the bed of the truck before turning back to Mark. "Do you think you could check my equipment bag for my cell?"

He nodded and dug into the side pocket of her bag and pulled out her phone and handed it to her. After a few moments, the far end of the line was ringing and was finally picked up. It took her a few minutes and she had to keep shushing Mark but she finally knew her schedule. She was about to hang out when her coworker, Theresa, decided to get a little nosey.

_"So, why you asking about it so early? You got a hot date?"_

"Not really any of your business," Allison said sourly.

_"Ten bucks says Mark finally asked you out."_

"I'm hanging up now."

_"Wait a min..._"

Allison cut off Theresa by snapping the phone shut and tossing it into the passenger seat. "I gotta work that morning, but I got the night off."

"Then I'll pick you up at six."

"Or I'll meet you there at seven. Give a girl some time to shower."

"Come on, you'll be fine," Mark argued. "You look fine now and you've been sweating it out for the past four hours. I think you'll be okay after dipping ice cream for six."

Allison scowled at him. She knew better. She felt like a wreck and a quick glance in the rear view mirror confirmed it. She had helmet hair, her shoulder was developing a nice purple bruise from where someone had clipped her witha bat, and she was wearing a cut off t-shirt and a pair of tear-away pants. "I look like shit and you know it."

"Naw...you the spitting image of beauty. The Venus, no, the Aphrodite of Central High." He gesticulated towards the heavens and then glanced back down at her grinning.

"I'm leaving now. So if you don't want me to run over those precious toes of yours, I'd back up," she warned.

He stepped back and waved, doing his best not to laugh at her expense. "See you Saturday night!"

Allison sped off down the dirt drive, kicking up dust in her wake.

* * *

><p>"So what took you so long to get here?" Kelly asked as she hovered near the entrance to the kitchen so that she could keep an ear open for the popcorn popping.<p>

"Mark held me up when I dropped of Missy." Allison glanced behind her before plopping ungracefully into a beanbag chair in the middle of Kelly's grandmother's living room. She'd only been living there for about a year after a falling out with her mom but her grandmother was being a champ letting Kelly feel like she actually had a home there when she would soon be leaving for college. The living room was a testimate to the kindness. A pair of bean bag chairs, hot pink coasters, and a framed poster for the Killers adorned the wall.

"Ooo." Kelly was grinning broadly down at Allison who only looked back up at her with a glare.

"You're worse than Ashley! Get your mind outta the gutter now, or I'll remove it for you!" She smiled as she went back into the kitchen to retrieve the popcorn. She brought it back and plopped into the matching bean bag chair. "So how's Nate?"

"Good. You know, the usual. I think he's getting used to me saying 'no' now. God, he used to be all over me all the time and it made me way too self-conscious," Kelly said handing Allison the bag of popcorn.

She grabbed a fistful and munched for a few moments. "Well, at least guys notice you. Somehow I just blend right in."

"You've made it that way! Tell me once when you've ever dressed up and tried to look slightly feminine."

Allison gave it some serious thought before coming up with her answer. "Prom," she said definitively.

"How about sometime other than that. Like just an ordinary day," Kelly quizzed.

"Well, there was the one time the guys on the football team dared me to wear a dress and walk into the guys locker room for the opposing team and insist that that was were I was going to change." Allison snickered at the memory and Kelly rolled her eyes.

"You're hopeless. And Mark notices you…he _really_ notices you."

"No, he doesn't. He just likes to tease me. Besides, we're best friends. Just like you and me. I couldn't date him!" Allison shuddered at the thought.

"Uh huh. But he wants to see that change. Besides, boyfriends can still be your best friend."

"Yeah until you break up. I'm not going to toss away my friendship like that."

"Paranoid."

"Am not!"

"Are too."

"Not."

"Too."

"Not."

"Not."

"Too."

"Hah! You admit it!" Kelly declared, fist pumping the air, a look of triumph on her face.

"No fair, you used the oldest trick in the book."

"And for going to be our valedictorian next year, you fell for it. That's pathetic," Kelly teased.

"Shut up," Allison muttered burrowing deeper into her beanbag chair as if she could disappear. It didn't work and Kelly offered her more popcorn. "Can't."

"Why not?"

"Camp starts in three weeks. You know that."

"That and you wanna look good for your date with Mark on Saturday." Allison tossed a pillow at Kelly's head with a satisfying smack.

* * *

><p>"Mother," Allison whined, "I am <em>not<em> getting all dressed up just to go meet Mark at the movies." Allison stood with her fists on her hips staring her mother down who was physically blocking the doorway to Allison's bedroom. Allison was wearing a pair of cut off jeans and last year's summer league t-shirt that bore more than a few clay stains. She was tired from work earlier and had not been able to escape Theresa's incessant banter and interrogation about her supposed date with Mark. Part of her wished that she could snap her fingers and Saturday would be over.

"I'm not letting you go on a date looking like that," Ms. Steele said shaking her head. When she'd divorced Allison's father years ago, she'd reclaimed her maiden name. It sometimes caused confusion at school but luckily she was still okay with being called Mrs. Williams every once in a while by a confused teacher or classmate.

Allison cringed at the 'date' word. Why did everyone insist that it must be a date if it's a guy and a girl hanging out? "It's not a date Mom. He's not picking me up, he's not paying, and we're splitting right afterwards," she explained ticking the reasons off on her fingers.

"Uh huh, and I was born yesterday." Her mother rolled her eyes in such a way that you'd know instantly that the two of them were related.

"Then I'm definitely too young to date," Allison chuckled. "Besides, you do see the irony in what you're saying right? If this really is a date, I'm underdressed. It could definitely be worse, Mom." Allison grabbed her truck keys from her dresser and stuffed a small wad of cash into her jeans pocket. Her mother heaved a sigh of defeat as she turned sideways in the door to allow Allison to pass. Allison jogged down the stairs from their side porch to the driveway and hopped into the driver's seat of her pick up truck. After fiddling with the radio for a few moments, she as pulling down the quarter mile drive that set her mother's home up on top of a lonely hilltop. Ms. Steele loved the quiet, the peace, the lack of busy-body neighbors. Allison hated it. She found the quiet to be eerie and would have preferred living somewhere with a little more noise and excitement.

The radio spit out a little static as the truck moved into a low lying area and upon exiting the road, the music finally came through loud and clear. Allison smiled at the familiar voice of Toby Keith and tapped her foot as she sung along, temporarily forgetting about the evil 'date' word.

She reached the theater and parked her truck in the back row where she felt it was less likely to get dinged up by other movie goers. She had paid for the truck with cash and was extremely protective of it. As she walked towards the entrance, she dug her hands into her pockets and silently prayed that they'd stop sweating. Everyone insisted that it was just a nervous tic, but Allison knew that it happened all the time and without rhyme or reason. She could be brushing her teeth before bed and they'd start sweating.

She paid for her ticket and got into the snack bar line debating the merits of regular soda versus diet. "Hey Spank!" Turning, she could see Mark approaching, balancing a tray that was overloaded with popcorn, candies, and two sodas. "I already got you a drink since you were running late."

Allison forced a smile as she stepped out of line and followed him towards the theaters. _Well, so much for him not paying for anything. _"I see you're already trying to bulk up," she teased.

"Never too early to start," he said grinning. His postion as a linebacker gave him quite a bit of leniancy on his weight, but still, Mark was built strong and nearly every ounce of his weight had been converted to muscle through farm chores.

They walked side by side into the theater and sat in the back row. It was their usual place to sit so that they could point and snicker at couples making out. Their game was to find the most awkward kissers. Allison propped her feet up on the back of the seat in front of her and was grateful that it wasn't a packed house for once.

They were halfway through the movie when she felt Mark shift in his chair, stretching his arms above his head before allowing his right arm to go along the back of her seat. She cast him a sideways glance but he didn't turn his attention away from the movie for a second. To him it was as if nothing was out of the ordinary. A few minutes later, his arm shifted so that was going across the back of her shoulders causing Allison to shoot him another wary glance. Seeing that he was ignoring her, she decided to step out of the situation literally. "I gotta use the bathroom," she hissed standing up.

"You feel the need to announce that?" he asked, arching an eyebrow up. She just glared at him and walked out.

Once outside the theater, she didn't go to the restroom but rather paced back and forth in the hall, her sweaty hands shaking irradically. Her heart was pounding as the 'date' word thudded in her head like a song she couldn't get out. _I'm over reacting. Mark doesn't want to date. We're buddies, pals, bestest of friends. No sirree. Football players date cheerleaders, not teammates. That's pretty much an unspoken law of football. And my problem is merely that our school doesn't have any male cheerleaders. That's all._

She wasn't paying attention and walked directly into someone who grabbed her by the shoulders to keep them from crashing into one another. "Sorry, miss, I think your boyfriend is looking for you."

Allison looked up at the usher and her face wrinkled up in confusion. "Boyfriend? I don't have a boyfriend."

"Um, well, the guy you came with is over there," he clarified pointing behind Allison to where Mark was standing, his feet shuffling just outside the theater they'd been in.

"He's not my boyfriend," Allison repeated herself as she turned away from the stunned looking usher and she walked back towards Mark.

"There you are," he said sounding relieved. "I was worried when you didn't come back."

"Sorry," she said sheepishly glancing down at the ground.

"If you didn't like the movie, why didn't you say something? We could have switched theaters or bailed completely." He gazed down at her worriedly and placed what was meant to be a comforting hand on her shoulder.

She sighed, her shoulders rising and falling with emphasis on her frustration. "It wasn't the movie."

"So, you wanna tell me what then?" He looked geninely confused and Allison was beginning to see that perhaps she was the only one who hadn't seen this coming.

"I just want us to stay friends, okay?" If there'd been an easier way to broach the topic, she didn't know it.

Mark's face fell instantly. After a beat he managed a whithered smile but it held none of his usual joviality. "Sure...friends."

Allison began to wonder how in the world such a tough football player could have such weak self-esteem. She groaned inwardly as she struggled for something to say to rectify the situation. "I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong impression, but, I would never want anything to happen to our friendship. I value it far too much."

"No," he said shaking his head, "I just took it all wrong. Of course, we're always gonna be friends."

Allison punched him gently in the shoulder and smiled. "Best of friends. Don't forget the 'best'." He gave her a slightly less weak looking smile as she threw an arm over his shoulder. "Come on you big lug. Let's fatten you up some more. Burgers on me."

* * *

><p><em>"So, how'd it go?"<em>

"How'd what go?" Allison asked twirling the phone cord around her finger.

_"Duh...your date with Mark."_

"I couldn't tell you if I wanted to," Allison said in a bored voice. She hoped that if she sounded disinterested enough herself, that Kelly might drop the topic as well. She certainly didn't need a reminder of how poorly the night had gone.

_"He kissed you! I knew it...I just knew he would eventually gut up the nerve."_

"Get your head out of the Gossip, Kel. _Nothing_ happened. Unless you count me setting things straight with him."

_"You're such a killjoy." _Disappointment just dripped from Kelly's voice.

"Hmm...maybe that's why I'm captain and you're not."

_"But at least the freshman aren't scared of me."_

"You know, if I wanted this kind of harassment, I could have just talked to my mom," Allison sighed before instantly regretting it. The long moment of silence confirmed that she'd made a mistake by bringing up parents. "She's such a pain in the ass. Be grateful you're living with your gram. Grams like to spoil."

_"Uh huh." _Kelly was still quiet and Allison felt the need to somehow rescue her friend's mood despite the obvious trespass into her own personal life that Kelly had just made.

"Hey, are you coming to see me at work tomorrow night? I'll make you the best banana split for two."

_"On the house?"_ Kelly asked her interest being piqued again.

"Of course. When the boss is away, the employees will play."

_"You're the best."_

"Don't I know it."

* * *

><p>Emma Frost stood just behind Charles Xavier as he set aside his helmet onto the Cerebro console. "What is it, Charles?"<p>

"A new mutant signature," he said softly as if still thinking. "From what I can tell, she has a lot of potential to be quite powerful." He turned in his chair to face her and steepled his fingers under his chin.

Emma nodded in understanding. She had come to help Charles with recruiting. It seemd that more mutants were popping up all the time and that if they didn't work together, then there would be a lot of confused, and potentially dangerous, teenagers out there. "What exactly are her powers?"

"It's still too early to tell. She herself may not even know yet."

"But you've pin-pointed her location?"

"A small, rural community in central Pennsylvania. I'd like you to take Kurt and Logan with you to talk to her. Let her know that there's help if she wants it." He paused, once more looking for the right words. "We must be careful though. These types of communities tend to be ignorant of the mutant condition. We could be met with resistance, not just from the community but by the girl and her parents as well."

"I'll keep that in mind. Don't worry, we'll find her before someone else does."

"I'm mostly worried about Mystique. She's actively recruiting for the Brotherhood again now that she's back." Xavier looked deeply concerned and Emma frowned at his expression. He hadn't been sleeping much since Rogue's departure and the fact that Mystique was running the circus known as the Brotherhood again didn't help matters.

"She'll be fine. Both Rogue and this girl…they'll both be fine."

Charles looked up surprised that Emma had identified the source of his real concern. "Her name is Allison. Allison Williams. She's sixteen, almost seventeen, and will be a senior this year." He didn't move as Emma turned and left, anxious to get to work even if she wasn't exactly thrilled to be working with Logan to accomplish the task.


	2. A Melting and Boiling Point

**To the Reviewers:  
><strong>Elemental Helper: I grew up in a farming community in which Allison's world is strongly based. Just as most of the Marvel Universe is based in real cities, I wanted her origins to be based in reality too. I also like the idea of elemental mutants having some kind of earthly connection. Doesn't make sense for an elemental to discover their powers in the middle of a skyscraper.**  
><strong>

**FYI:**  
>I do not own the X-men. I do own Allison. And to me, that's really all that matters.<p>

**Chapter 2: Reaching A Melting And Boiling Point**

Allison crouched low to the ground, her eyes narrowed against the bright sun and the dust that seemed to be billowing up around her. The runner was trying to come home, the ball was already secure in her glove, and she was just waiting. _Come on, come on...just try it._ She had been in this play situation countless times before. She had watched girls give themselves crushing injuries against her shin guards, helped them hobble off the field, but she had never allowed one to score on home as long as she was even close to having the ball in her control. This time would be no different.

Except it was. The girl lifted her leg in a flying, kicking slide; her cleat aimed closer to Allison's chest than the ground. Apparently she was channeling Ty Cobbs through her sixteen-year-old, limber, feminine body. As the cleat landed squarely on Allison's chest pad, she swung her glove around, tagging the girl in the side before either of the fell back onto home plate.

Allison was only vaguely aware of the umpire swinging his arms out to the side, signalling the out.

When she reopened her eyes, she felt as though her entire body had gone numb. The offensive runner was no longer lying on top of her but none of her limbs or head would obey her. She felt trapped inside the helmet that had so often protected her against bats, softballs, and on occasion, the ground. Through the grid of metal, she could make out her coach leaning over her waving a hand in front of her face and he smiled when he saw her eyes open.

Kelly was leaning over his shoulder and looked like she was nearly in tears. "Spanky!"

"Kelly, go get her some water," Coach Schneider directed. "Hopefully it's just dehydration." Allison's heart thudded. She was scared. She wanted to tell him she couldn't move but she also wanted to believe that he was right too. Kelly returned with the water and splashed it over her face. There was nothing cool about it. Allison grimaced as clay was washed into her eyes and finally her limbs seemed to react as she reached up and tried to pull on her helmet.

"Slow down, Spank," Kelly said kneeling down to help her. Once the helmet was removed, both Schneider and Kelly helped Allison back up to her feet where she swayed dizzily for a moment before regaining her balance. Kelly kept an arm braced across her shoulders as they slowly made their way off the field. "Why didn't you tell us that seven innings was pushing it? You scared us. All of us," Kelly admonished as she pressed a water bottle into Allison's hand.

Allison stared at Kelly trying to sort out what had happened for herself. She then tilted her head back and began to drink, occasionally tossing some of the water onto her face. She hadn't felt the symptoms of dehydration at all. She knew what that felt like, but this hadn't been it. And the water had not helped at all, and continued to not help unless you counted finally removing the dirt from her eyes. "I was fine. I felt fine...never better," Allison insisted as Kelly pushed her to sit on the bench. Allison watched with frustration as the sophomore catcher moved in behind the plate and took a couple of practice catches. The game would be going on without her.

"I've got to get back on the field. Are you sure you're okay?" Kelly asked as Coach Schneider returned and gently nudged Kelly away. Kelly glanced back once more before jogging back out to her position at third base.

"I want you to sit out the rest of the game. Sit down, keep drinking, and cool off," Schneider ordered.

"But I'm fine!" Allison insisted causing freshmen to scooch over and scatter in order to give her space.

"Look, take a walk and cool off. I'm not going to have your bad attitude on my bench," he said tossing her another water bottle and then went back to reorganizing the line up with the umpires.

Allison begrudginly tore off the rest of her catcher's gear, throwing most of it roughly against the fence with many satisfying clangs, before she snatched up the water bottle and walked away.

She was only as far as the outfield fence when someone spoke up from behind her. "Spank?" Allison spun to see Mark standing there, his blonde hair blowing about in the strong breeze, his shirt rippling against his chest.

"What?" she snapped in irritation.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes," she growled. "Now leave me alone." She turned on her heel, determined to get away from everyone.

He took a loping jog and caught up to her, grabbing her hand. He was strong from toting hay and feed for so many years. "Stop this before you hurt yourself."

"I told you I'm fine." But he didn't let go, rather pulling her in closer so that she could not do anything but look him in the eye. "Let me go, Mark."

"No way. Not until you calm down." Allison sighed, the tension leaving her body, hoping that the ploy would be enough to convince him to release her. Her palms were sweating like crazy inside her batting gloves even though the fingers had been cut off to allow more air flow. "I care too much about you to watch you into self-destruct mode," he said gently.

"Great, now I'm suicidal," she replied, her anger flaring back up again.

"I didn't say that."

"You might as well have."

He frowned in confusion, unsure of what else to say. "Go for your walk. Cool off. I'll meet you by your truck at the end of the game." He squeezed her hand before leaning over and placed a quick kiss on her forehead.

The kiss left her more stunned than when he'd grabbed her by the hand to stop her. Had he said nothing else, she still would have been left standing there, rooted to the spot, watching as he returned to the bleachers, his hands buried in his pockets. Finally Allison regained her consciousness and quickly walked across the road to the train tracks. She set her pace and stride to match the railroad ties and tried to make sense of her accident and also Mark's behavior.

"Troubles dear?"

Allison paused, surprised that someone would follow her even after they must have witnessed her blowing up on half of her team and Mark. She turned slowly and gazed upon the blonde woman before her looking terribly out of place on the railroad tracks. She was wearing a three piece, white business suit, her hair pulled back into a messy bun, and her posture was perfect.

"You're Allison, right?" Allison could only manage to nod as she stared at the woman. She was beautiful. More beautiful than anyone she'd ever seen in person before. "I know about you; how you're special."

"Are you from one of the universities?" Allison asked surprised that this is what a college scout would look like. She'd expected a man first off, but secondly, she'd never dreamt they'd be dressed so nicely.

"In a sense, but not for what you think. I'm not here about your softball playing. Although, you are quite good."

"Then what are you here about?" Allison asked wiping the sweat from her forehead only to watch as it was absorbed into the back of her hand. She blinked dumbly not sure she believed what she'd just seen.

"You haven't been feeling yourself lately, have you?"

"Are you some doctor from the city? I don't know what they told you, but my mother and I can't afford whatever tests or treatments you might be offering. It's just the heat and dehydration," Allison said, more so to convince herself than this woman in the suit.

"It's only seventy-five today." The woman barely blinked. Her gaze was steady as if she was studying Allison and it made the girl nervous as she wiped at her forehead again. Once more the sweat disappeared on the back of her hand.

"Feels a hell of lot hotter when you're wearing polyester," Allison muttered as she stepped up onto the rail and held out her hands for balance. She made her way back past the blonde woman and started towards the softball field. Suddenly her friends didn't seem so bad.

"When I was your age, I was just as scared and confused. But there are people who can help you, Allison. We want to help you if you'll let us."

Allison spun, looking back at the woman, her eyes flaring bright blue with frustration. "I don't want your help, okay? I don't need it. I've got my mom and my friends. Whatever you're selling, I'm not interested!"

Emma watched in amazement as the girl's form seemed to shiver for a moment before becoming translucent. And then like a large glass of water that had been turned upside down, the water pounded down to the ground, soaking the ties at Emma's feet. "Powerful, no doubt, Charles," she said to herself.

* * *

><p>Allison blinked and realized that she was sitting on top of the pitcher's mound of the boy's baseball field-all the way on the other side of the high school campus. She couldn't remember how she'd even gotten there. She lowered her head down into her hands and squeezed her eyes shut. She had to have walked here, but why couldn't she remember? <em>How'd I shake the doctor lady? Am I blacking out now because of this dehydration stuff?<em>

"Hello."

Allison groaned loudly in displeasure. This was the third time in half an hour that someone had popped up behind her and half scared her in order to get her attention. Couldn't people tell she wanted to be alone? She turned to look over her shoulder to see a boy approaching her from second base. He was on the short side, lanky, and had long, blue tinted hair. And to top it off, he had a strong accent that she'd been able to pick up from just a word. "Are you a foreign exchange student?" she asked and he shook his head in response. "Then I think you're very lost."

"No, I came to see you actually." He was now standing over her, and Allison leaned back to look at him upside down. He had a heart shaped face, aquiline nose, and amber eyes.

"You too, huh? Lemme guess, one of their cured patients? How much did it cost, hmm? I can tell you, more than I have to pay."

He shook his head in the negative as Allison slowly stood up and turned to face him. "It doesn't cost anything to come to the institute, promise. And I'm not really cured. It's just a special hollographic watch. See?" He touched his sport watch and his image shifted for a second to look fuzzy and then he really was fuzzy...and blue.

Allison reeled backwards, tripping over the mound and fell back onto her butt. "You have a tail!" she cried out, pointing to his long tail that swished across the ground. "What are you?"

"I'm a mutant."

"Y-you're a freak! Just leave me alone. All of you!" she shouted rolling over until she was on her hands and knees and then she'd taken off at a sprint towards the dugout. She jumped down in easily and nearly choked on the sulfur fumes.

She turned to see that the blue boy was perched on the dugout bench and was trying to reach his hand out to her. "I won't hurt you," he promised. "You're a mutant too."

Allison's eyes widened to saucer proportions and she shook her head violently. "No! That's not possible. I'm just sick. I'm just sick," she mumbled backing away, her back pressed against the fencing until she'd edged past him and then she took off again, sprinting through one of the cornfields that surrounded the school.

Leaves and stalks smacked her face as she ran, but she didn't care. She tried to shield her face a little but she could feel the tears beginning to well up. She was tripping over rocks and clumps of dirt, but she ignored the pain that shot up through her ankle as she kept running until she'd run out into the middle of a clearing. She easily jumped over a fence and ran towards the familiar barn of the Frederick farm.

Allison ran inside the barn hoping that against all odds Mark came back home. Hell, she'd have settled for Mark's older brother at this point. She just needed to talk to someone she knew, to find out that she wasn't going crazy. Blue boys could not just teleport around baseball fields.

She skidded to a stop when she realized that the barn was empty aside from the few riding horses that the family kept stabled there. When she heard movement outside the barn, instincts took over and she quickly let herself into one of the stalls. She patted the horses neck trying to calm him from her sudden burst of movement and watched through a gap in the fencing. The horse continued to stamp nervously and Allison began to contemplate the very real danger of being trampled versus whoever was outside. As she was about to exit the stall, she saw someone enter the barn and heard a soft 'snikt'. She froze, but unfortunately the horse did not as it tossed its head and danced in a circle.

Allison was knocked to the ground as the horse turned and she lay, covering her head with her arms as the horse continued to stamp its hooves heavily into the dirt.

"All right kid, show yourself."

Allison's eyes snapped open at the sound of the voice and cursed inwardly. Yet another stranger who was looking for her. How many of these mutants were there? She slowly pushed herself back up and could see that he was practically outside the stall she was hiding in and she glanced around at what was available to her. Not much she decided. She moved into a crouch and then with suden speed, popped up, using bracing boards to help her climb up over the stall's wall quickly as she jumped and attempted to deliver a cleated kick to the gruff looking man's face.

He caught her foot, causing Allison to drop like a rock onto the ground as she groaned. "Bad move kid. Know you're opponent first before you attack."

"Thanks, I'll remember that for next time, old timer," she groaned before swinging her leg out to the side in a failed attempt to knock his feet out from under him. She winced as her shin connected with his and he had no reaction whatsoever.

"Like I said, get to know your opponent." He easily picked her up by the front of her uniform and set her back down on her feet, but he didn't let go. Allison frowned in confusion. She knew that most guys on the football team couldn't even begin to attempt to pick her up like that. She was a solidly built girl-all muscle. "Now don't make this difficult. We only want to help you."

"Difficult? You're the ones who've been following me. I just ran a mile and a half and you freaks keep following me!"

He just shook his head as he switched his grip to hold Allison's arm. He tapped his ear and Allison watched as he seemed to turn on a communicator device. "Frosty, Elf, I've got her in a barn a mile and a quarter from the school. Someone want to try and talk sense to her?"

_"Good. I'll be there as soon as I can."_

_"That's great! Be there soon."_

"Aren't you Mr. Exact," Allison sneered up at the gruff man and he gazed back down at her stoically. She had a lot of fight in her for just a kid. He just hoped that they'd be able to convince her to join them. It'd be a shame for Mystique to get her claws into this girl. Allison just smiled back up at him and then she was gone.

His hand closed around nothing and he blinked before jerkily turning to look around. She was completely gone. He tapped his ear once again in frustration and snapped, "Frosty, what exactly was this girl's powers again?"

_"I believe that she's able to take on the form of water."_

"You sure it ain't air? She sure as hell didn't melt out of my grip."

_"Perhaps she can evaporate as well as melt,"_ Emma said thoughtfully. _"Can you sniff her out, Logan?"_

"You're kidding me, right? All I can smell is horse and cow shit. My nose'll be fouled up for a week." He could hear a sigh on the far end as he stepped outside of the barn and then smirked. He could see a row of corn shifting as someone ran through the field about a half mile south. "I do have a visual though. She's now a half mile south of me heading for a residential area."

_"I'll try and catch up with her,"_ Kurt interjected.

"Don't think that's such a good idea, Elf."

_"They're all afraid of the blue fuzzy dude, then they get to know me. Don't worry, I'll talk to her."_

"I've heard you say that before. Last time it landed you in a brief coma.

"This is different. What's she gonna do? Splash me?"

_"Let him go, Logan,"_ Emma said giving an air of final authority.

* * *

><p>Kurt teleported to the edge of the neighborhood that Logan had described. It was one of the kinds that usually older couples lived in, the houses spread out over hills with large, sprawling lawns. It was completely different from what he was used to seeing in Bayville. Here the lawns were nearly as large as the entire grounds for the institute, while the houses were much smaller.<p>

Looking around, he couldn't see Allison right away. Then gazing over a nearby orchard, he could see her zigging and zagging between the trees. Kurt teleported out of sight into a tree just behind her. "Hello again."

She stopped short and turned around to stare at him. "Do you guys ever give up?"

"Where would be the fun in that?" he asked. He jumped down to stand next to her and realized that she was a few inches taller than he was, probably five ten. Her hair was auburn with natural streaks of blonde and dark brown going through out the waves, but her eyes were no longer as bright a blue as when he'd first seen her. They'd paled to a steel blue color.

"What?" she asked suspiciously as he continued to stare at her.

"Your eyes. They changed colors."

"Yeah, I know," she admitted after a moment. "What about it?"

"It's a really cool mutation. Much better than being blue and fuzzy."

She glanced up at him and he was surprised to see her eye color change yet again to a steel green. You had to look closely to notice the change, but it was definitely happening. She shrugged as if she didn't quite believe him and then pointed to a white and blue house that was settled down into a small valley. "That's my gram's house. She always told me that my eyes made me special. Guess she just didn't know how special."

"We won't hurt you," Kurt said gently. "We just want to help. Help you understand the changes that have been happening. It doesn't mean you're a freak-just special like your grandmother has always told you."

Allison sighed gazing at her grandmother's home and when she looked back at Kurt she managed a weak smile. "You guys got softball where you're from?"

"The high school has a team. But at the institute, we have something even better-Mutant Ball." When he saw her confused look he laughed. "It's just like softball but with powers. It's fun and you'll get to see for yourself if you come with us."

"Another question. They got football?"

"Of course, all schools do."

"Any girls on the squad?"

"I don't think so."

Allison smirked as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Well, I guess I'll just have to come with you and stir things up a little."


	3. Survivor Anyone?

*wails* I was writing this chapter and it failed to save. So I had to rewrite the rewrite of the chapter from memory. Oh, this sucked big time. And I don't feel like it's quite as good this time around.

**FYI:**  
>I do not own the X-men. However, Allison and the development, type, and use of her powers are completely, 100% mine.<p>

**Chapter 3: Survivor Anyone?**

Allison let out a puff of air as she thought for a few moments. "So let me see if I've gotten all of this straight: I'm a mutant. You're a mutant. Those other two people I met are mutants. You come from some school up in New York specifically for mutants. You want me to come to this school so that I can learn to use my mutant abilities and more or less assimilate back into normal society without freaking anyone out at some point by accident. All of this is essentially a no risk, completely free, no contracts to sign deal?"

Kurt looked like his head was going to pop. That girl could talk really, really fast. Faster than Kitty after drinking a half dozen Red Bulls in fact. "That sounds about right," Kurt agreed after a few moments.

"Okay, so if this is going to happen at all, my mom needs to know about it. I'm not exactly just going to run away from home just because yesterday I thought I was normal and today I find out I'm not. She has to agree too. But I'm pretty sure she's going to freak out if you're blue and fuzzy," Allison said pointing at Kurt, her finger rotating slightly as if to imply that it wasn't just his face that was the problem. Kurt adjusted his watch and suddenly he looked like he had when they'd first met on the baseball diamond. Allison smiled and nodded in approval. "Now a few words of advice for ya. My family puts the CIA to shame when it comes to inquisitions. Let me do the talking unless I ask you a question specifically. Our story is that the softball game ended early because of such a large gap in the score, you're a foreign exchange student that I'm showing around the area, and most of all don't say anything more than necessary or you'll be digging your own grave. Got it?"

Kurt hesitated once more before nodding, unsure that he really had heard everything that he needed to.

"Great. What's your name, by the way?"

"Kurt Wagner," Kurt answered sticking out his hand.

Allison took it and gave it a firm shake and smiled. "Allison Williams. Nice to meet you."

Kurt paused as he heard a light crackle of static in his ear before Logan's voice came through. _"Elf, you found the girl yet?"_

Kurt reached up and touched his ear and Allison watched curiously. "I'm with her now actually. We're going to her grandmother's to talk."

_"Good job, Kurt. I'll be there shortly," _Emma Frost added before the communication cut out.

"What was that?" Allison asked.

"Miss Frost is going to meet us at your grandmother's," Kurt said smiling as they turned and started to walk.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but I think that gruff, little man would fit in better than her. She's a little too uppity for these parts."

Kurt started to laugh as he tried to imagine Logan being the diplomatic one instead. "Trust me, she's the better choice."

* * *

><p>Allison and Kurt sat opposite her grandmother at a cluttered dining room table. Allison fidgeted nervously as her grandmother continued to ask Kurt every question that popped into her mind about Germany, flying, being in America, everything. After checking the clock for the twentieth time after calling her mother, Allison finally cleared her throat. "Gram, maybe Kurt would like to not talk for a while."<p>

"Now, Ally, I'm just being polite to your guest."

"It's called harassment, Gram," Allison teased before being promptly ignored as the interrogation went on. At least Kurt didn't seem too bothered by it, but Allison worried that at some point the word mutant might slip out.

"Yoo hoo! Earth to Ally." Allison blinked at the hand that was waving up and down in front of her face and then looked up to see her mother standing behind her. "How was your game, Sweetie? And who might I ask is this handsome boy?" She wore a mischevious look, one that she got every time that she saw her daughter with a new male.

Allison just rolled her eyes. She never could understand why her mother was so anxious for her daughter to start dating. And why she seemed to think that it would happen overnight. Allison was just one of those girls who was too much like one of the guys to ever be a girlfriend. "Mom," she whined with an edge of warning to her voice. "This is Kurt. He's a foreign exchange student. And our game ended a little early because we were beating them too bad." Allison added a smirk to her lie in order to pass it as more believable.

"Sweetie, I've told you before, that we can't afford another mouth to feed."

"Moooommm…I know that. I'm just showing him around."

"Well, it's nice to meet you Kurt." Allison's mother shook his hand in a formal manner, giving it a warm squeeze.

"The pleasure is mine," Kurt responded causing Allison's mother to shoot her a smile and a wink. Message: 'He's a keeper.' Allison got the message loud and clear and responded with yet another eye roll.

"Did you at least take your cleats off at the front door? And what happened to your gear?" Allison's mother asked glancing under Allison's chair to see that she was in her socks.

Allison froze for a second. She'd left everything behind at the field, including her truck. She just hoped that she could count on either Kelly or Coach to pick her stuff up for her. "Well, Coach took it. My helmet needed some repairs as well as the chest pad."

"And your pappy's glove?"

"Needed relacing," Allison quickly lied. She knew that she'd be grounded for a week if she lost the expensive, custom-sized catching gear. However losing her grandfather's glove would result in almost certain death-perhaps by quartering if her mother could find a state in which it was still legalized.

The doorbell rang and they all turned to look at the kitchen door in which Ms. Steele had entered, but there was no one standing on the other side of the screen door. "That's odd, everyone knows that my door's unlocked and that they can come right on in," Allison's grandmother said starting to stand up.

Allison's mother gently pushed her back into her seat and smiled. "I'll get it Mom." She went into the living room and answered the front door for a formal looking lady in white. She blinked in surprise and then glanced out past the woman to see a white Chrysler convertible. She frowned, clucked her tongue and shook her head. "We're not buying whatever you're selling," she stated coldly before attempting to shut the door again but Miss Frost's hand shot out and caught it before it latched shut.

"I'm actually here to speak to you about your daughter." In surprise, Allison's mother stepped back allowing Emma Frost to enter and together they went back to the dining room. She instantly had everyone's attention simply based on her correct posture and direct gaze. "I'm Emma Frost, co-director of the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters. We'd like for you and Allison to see what we have to offer her."

"Unfortunately, I'm going to have enough trouble sending my daughter to college next year. I can't afford a private school now. I'm sorry for your trouble but I'm afraid this was a wasted trip on your part."

"I don't think you understand, this will be of no cost to you. The institute is completely self-sufficient and has no tuition costs. It's more of a safe house where Allison will be able to learn control over her gifts. She'll be able to interact with students with similar abilities who will accept her for what she is. She'll then be able to assimilate back into normal society without problems."

Eyes were narrowing as Ms. Steele crossed her arms over her chest and straightened her stance. "I'm not sure what you're insinuating, but my daughter's intelligence has never caused her to have any problems making friends. She's very popular and involved in her school."

"Mom," Allison interrupted. "Just hear her out. I think they can help me."

"Help you with what? Your grades are excellent, you have a fantastic chance of getting into any college you want, and if you perform in football or softball like you did this past year, we'll be fighting off the scholarship offers."

"There's something you need to know, Mom," Allison said quietly. "I'm not sick. But all of the fainting, dehydration, cold sweats, it is something." Ms. Steele's eyes widened into saucers and Allison's grandmother looked startled by the discussion. "They can help me with all of those things. Help me to lead a normal life again so I can go play softball in college. The reason I left early is because I passed out again."

"So this is a hospital?" Ms. Steele asked looking to Emma.

"No, it's a school," Kurt spoke up. "We just have a very special group of students."

"A school for ill students. H-how can we afford this?" Ms. Steele asked.

"Because I'm not sick. And that's not what they do," Allison explained. "I'm a mutant." Allison's gaze shifted to the floor. "They're just going to help me to feel normal again."

"Ms. Steele, you're daughter has a rare mutation that allows her to take on the qualities of water. We believe that she has a lot of untapped potential. We also believe that if she can learn to control her abilities she'll be able to lead as normal a life as she desires," Miss Frost said gently as Allison's mother crumpled and more or less fell into a chair next to Allison's grandmother.

Allison leaned over and pressed her hand to her mother's knee and sighed. She could see the grey creeping in around the temples, that she was no longer taller than her daughter, and that the fine lines were starting to appear on her face. "Mom, we're talking about no more clueless doctors, no more fainting, no more cold sweats."

"Are you saying that we're incapable of providing Allison the care she needs here at home? Lots of families have to cope with unique illnesses, and they pull through."

"Yeah, that's true, Mom, but this isn't an illness. And even if it were, then think of these guys as the experts. Even those families have expert help."

"And Allison will be allowed to come home and visit as often as she likes. Just as you will be more than welcome to visit her as often as you'd like," Miss Frost added smiling gently. "We'll take care of her. All we ask is that you come to visit. There's no pressure to enroll, and if you do, there's absolutely no cost at all."

"Ms. Steele," Kurt spoke up, "The professor is very nice. He takes care of everything: school, room, board, everything."

Kurt's opinion seemed to have the necessary impact on Allison's mother as she sighed. "I suppose we could check it out."

* * *

><p>Allison and her mother had seen the institute the weekend before and it seemed to have had an impressionable effect on her mother. She had been impressed by the professionalism of the staff. Allison had been impressed by the number of students. She'd seen at least a dozen different kids living at the mansion and had actually grinned broadly when she'd been informed that she'd <em>have <em>to have a roommate.

Now Allison stood in the middle of her bedroom, surrounded by stacks of clothing, books, and other personal effects trying to figure out how to get everything to fit into a single trunk. _I feel like I'm going on Survivor-I can only take my most valuable posessions with me_. She looked down into the open trunk that was mostly filled with various clothes, mostly jeans, t-shirts, and hoodies. There was the occaisional sweater and tank tops, but that was the limit to the variation.

"Why don't you take your dress?" Allison's mother asked pulling an aqua colored sheath gown from the back of Allison's closet.

Allison just groaned. "Mom, I'm not going to need that. If I do go to the prom there, I'll come back and get it in the spring."

"What about homecoming? Or a Sadie Hopkins dance?"

"A football player cannot wear a dress to homecoming. It's why I didn't go last year," Allison argued.

"And that's why Mark ended up skipping and spent the night trying to track you down," her mother responded winking.

"Hey, that's not my fault. Trust me, I've tried telling him what to do. He doesn't listen. It's worse than trying to herd cats."

"You two are more alike than you'd like to admit," her mother said sitting down on the edge of the bed. She picked up a framed picture of Allison and Mark both in uniform, kneeling on the helmets."

"That's why we're best friends," Allison said with a smile, but her mother just sighed in defeat and left. Allison sighed watching her mother leave and went back to her closet and pulled out the dress. She carefully laid it down in the bottom of the trunk and draped it over the album of pictures from her parents' wedding.

Allison then sat down where her mother had been and absent mindedly reached over to pet her black cat who was curled up against the bottom of a guitar case. "I'm gonna miss you, Midnight." The cat looked up and blinked her eyes sleepily before standing up, stretching, turned a few times and then went back to sleeping.

"Hey girl." Allison looked up to see Kelly in the doorway and gave a half-smile. "We're really going to miss you. You sure you wanna go off to some prep school?"

"It's a chance I can't pass on," Allison said shrugging as she stood back up and hugged her friend. Both were fighting back tears.

"Want some help?" Kelly asked as they released one antoher.

"Sure...those books need packed," Allison said pointing at her bookshelf that contained at least a hundred different novels.

"You can't possibly be taking them all."

"No. Just the hardbacks, I guess. Those are my favorites."

"I don't understand how you can possibly read all of this stuff," Kelly said starting to pull the volumes down one-by-one.

"They're great. Seriously. You loved the movie, why don't you actually read _Jurassic Park_?"

"Because I _have_ seen the movie," Kelly laughed. They exchanged smiles and then went back to packing away various things into boxes. "So you're leaving tomorrow."

"Yep." There was a touch of sadness in her voice but Allison knew that it was merely from knowing that she would miss her friends. She didn't actually dread the school itself or the change.

"You'll be back over Thanksgiving, right? Maybe the guys'll make it to states again and we can go watch 'em."

"Okay," Allison agreed glancing over her shoulder to see that Kelly had paused on one of the books. "What's up?"

"I finally get why you dragged Mark and I to see that movie, _Timeline_," she said laughing holding up the book before slipping it into the box.

"Don't knock it. You both loved the movie."

"True, but Mark would love anything you did. The other day I actually saw him trying to read a book like one of these," Kelly said waving another book before it went into the box.

"Mark reading? You're kidding."

"Nope."

Allison chuckled as she moved on to wrapping her picture frames in tissue paper. "I feel bad for leaving you guys mid post-season," Allison admitted as she put away this years team photo.

"Don't. Coach gave everyone a day off from practice so we could 'come to terms with our loss'."

"You make it sound like I'm dead!" Allison squealed tossing a stuffed animal at the back of Kelly's head.

Kelly turned to laugh and froze when she saw just how empty the room looked. This was the room where she'd spent on countless slumber parties and now it was barren. It held hardly anything that reminded her of Allison and the fun times they'd shared.

"I'm really going to miss you." She threw her arms around Allison in a hug as she started crying.

"Yeah, me too," Allison said softly as she blinked back the tears. "Okay, enough or you'll have me bawling too." She couldn't remember the crying for a very long time. In fact, she hadn't cried since her twelfth birthday when her father had failed to come get her for their annual fishing trip. She hadn't seen him since either.

"I better get going then."

"I'll see ya," Allison said letting her friend go who didn't move. Neither of them did. It was as if the were waiting for the other to make the move necessary to end the awkward goodbye. Kelly finally gave Allison one more fierce bear hug and left. That's when Allison's tears finally started to fall and she cried herself to sleep that night.

* * *

><p>Allison was throwing last minute things into her trunk: toothbrush, hairbrush, and other toiletries she'd needed for her morning routine. She paused looking around at the boxes that surrounded her and the blank empty room that was now in the background. She was vaguely aware that a car had pulled up to the house and that the kitchen door had opened and closed.<p>

"Ally, Mark's here to help you load the truck," her mother's voice called from the living room.

Allison lifted one of the lighter boxes and balanced it on her knee for a moment before she got a better grip and walked down the hall to her mother and friend. She offered a weak smile in greeting to Mark who stood awkwardly, his weight shifting from one foot to the other. "Hey big guy."

"Hey short stuff," he replied using his nickname for her since they'd known one another in elementary school and she'd actually been short. "So where's this monstrous trunk your mom was telling me about?"

"In the bedroom," she answered as she handed the box off to her mom and led Mark to the back of the house.

He let out a whistle when he saw how barren her room had become. He too remembered quite a few afternoons hanging out here and it seemed so different, so absent of her. "So there are walls in here," he teased. "I couldn't tell before with all the posters."

"Shut up and grab an end," she muttered, rolling her eyes and hoping that he'd keep up the jeering. It'd help to keep her from crying again.

"You gonna be able to manage this when you get there?" he asked as he walked backwards through the house, navigating by glancing over his shoulder.

"There ought to be _someone_ who can help."

"Well, if not, you could always just live out of the back of your truck."

She shot him a death glare but decided that him going down the stairs backwards would be a bad time to come up with a smart-ass response. Together they heaved the trunk up and into the bed of the truck, guiding it all the way down towards the cab. He gave her a small smile and shoved his hands down into his pockets and shugged. She gave him a smile and slapped him across the back of the shoulder so that he'd follow her back up for the rest of her things.

Together they got the truck loaded and tied down a tarp to protect her belongings from the elements. "Think you've got enough stuff?" he asked.

"Nope. I still wish I could take Midnight with me, but there's a pretty strict no-pet policy."

"I could take her to the farm," he offered. "She would have a grand ol' time chasing mice all day."

"She wouldn't even know what to do with a mouse if it walked right up and bit her," Allison said laughing as she gave one of the bungee cords a tug to see if it held. She walked around to the driver's door and checked to see that her cell phone was plugged in properly and charging as well as her navigation unit. She double checked the address and then closed the door. When she turned, she nearly took him out as her nose brushed up against his chest. "You're going to give me that heart attack yet," she teased and he smiled as he placed a hand under her chin and tilted her face up.

"There's one thing I've been wanting to do before you left," he said. "And I might not get the chance again."

"It's not like I'm falling off the face of the earth. I'll be back on breaks and I'll be writing nearly everyday via e-mail." Her gaze was confused as she stared up at him. It wasn't often that she saw his crystal blue eyes from this close.

He just shook his head at her naivete before leaning forward and kissing her gently on the lips. She gasped in surprise and he pulled back slightly. "It wasn't that bad, was it?"

"No...I...you surprised me," she finally managed to say and he smiled taking it as an invitation as he kissed her again. This time Allison reciprocated, her hands going around his neck, eyes closing as she memorized the feel of his lower lip between hers. They only parted when they were interrupted by a round of applause from the porch above them. "Mother..." Allison groaned with embarassment as she covered her face with her hand.

Mark chuckled as he kissed what little bit of his cheek he could find betwen her fingers and she peeked between her spread fingers at him to see that he was smiling more broadly than she'd seen in a while. He climbed back into his own truck and waved through the open window. "Don't forget about a weekly phone call too," he called out as the truck began to rumble down the long drive.

"You know it took the two of you long enough," Allison's mother said as she walked down the steps, swinging her house keys merrily around her finger.

"You could have, at minimum, refrained from clapping."

"Heat of the moment thing," her mother replied off-handedly. "Ready to go?" There was a touch of sadness in her voice at the last part. She was going to ride along for the trip there, but she would be flying back alone. She put on a smile though that reminded Allison of what her mother was normally like: a teenager trapped in the body of a forty-eight year old. She was hyper, bubbly, and unfortunately capable of maintaining a relationship. Her longest marriage had lasted for only eight years, only to find out that he was into some pretty nasty stuff on the side. Allison's father had been her third husband and the second longest relationship. But the alcohol had eventually driven them apartment as Allison's mother tried to be a responsible parent for her daughter. She did not relish the idea of starting empty nest syndrome a full year early.

They got into the truck on their respective sides and Allison started up the engine. Immediately, she turned down the volume but still received a glare from her mother. "What?" she asked as Avril Lavigne continued to sing. "Fine," she muttered as she realized the glare wasn't changing and started to fiddle with the dial as they rolled down the driveway. Her mother's expression did not change until the country station dialed in and Allison held it there deciding that it wasn't worth fighting over.

After a few hours, the process was repeated as they lost signal from that station and Allison won the battle for a classic rock station as they drove across the northern part of the state of Pennsylvania. They talked about everything that came into their minds: sports, weather, traffic. Her mother was just as much into sports as Allison, although less athletic. Allison had always been meant to be a boy, and thus for the first three years of her life, she'd worn blue because no pink had been seen at the baby showers. So it had been a surprise and a pleasure when Allison took up sports the way she had.

They had crossed into New York when Allison could avoid her mother's sadness at the approaching departure no more. "You know, we could side trip to New York City. They're in the middle of a Subway Series right now."

"That would be nice, but you'll have plenty of time for things like that with your new friends. Why waste an afternoon with your old mom."

"'Cause I love you mother dearest of mine." Allison had always used that as a nickname for her mother. It was an attention grabber and worked 99% of the time.

Her mother responded with a sad smile and the rest of the ride to Bayville was spent in near silence.

"Welcome to Bayville," Allison said reading the sign aloud as she whipped by going seventy. Hesitation was starting to creep up on her. She contemplated turning around and going home. Home to friends and family who would help her and understand even if things were changing a little for her.

Her mother reached over and touched her knee gently. "You're doing the right thing," she assured her.

"Thanks, Mom. It's just been a really confusing time. Everything just changed on me all at once. I'm different, Mark is different, even you're different too." Allison glanced sideways and caught the confused look on her mother's face. "You just opened your store and you've been really busy. It's good though. I want you to be busy. Busy and happy."

"You don't think I've abandoned you do you?"

"Aww…Mom. Of course not. We've had it rough, but you're an awesome mother. Some kids have got two parents who can't even tell you what homeroom they're in. But you, you're at nearly every game, talk to all my teachers, know the guidance counselor's extension by heart…you're a super mom, literally."

Her mother smiled genuinely as they pulled onto the country lane that would lead to the Xavier Institute. A couple of miles down the road, they crossed a bridge and then approached the brick wall that surrounded the mansion. Eventually they reached the iron gates and Allison pulled up and punched the intercom. "Hello? This is, uh, Allison. Allison Williams?"

_"Like hey, just a minute. We're like totally expecting you." _

Both Allison and her mother raised an eyebrow at the overly eager voice on the other end and Allison just shrugged. "They certainly seem happy to have you," her mother said.

"Perhaps a li'l too happy?" Allison said doubtfully as the gate opened and she started down the drive. She pulled up to the front steps where Logan had been waiting and he immediately started to approach the truck. Allison leaned forward so that she could see him through her mother's window and grinned. "Hey, hey, valet parking."

The corner of his mouth twitched as if he was fighting back a smile. Allison grinned when she saw his reaction. She had a knack for getting adults to like her and she'd found it came in handy more than once as she talked her way out of problems at school. She hopped out of the cab and walked around the truck to toss him the keys before shaking her finger in mock reprimand. "Scratch this baby of mine and you're a dead man walking," she teased as he looked at her in surprise. There was another twitch as he supressed a smirk.

Allison and her mom went inside and found Professor Xavier and Emma Frost waiting for them. "I'm glad you decided to come back," the professor said as he held out his hand to shake theirs.

"Come on, you're telepathic. You knew all along I'd be back," Allison said as she took his hand.

"We're very grateful that you had room for her," Allison's mother said more formally as she shook Xavier's then Emma Frost's hands.

Allison once more took in the size of the mansion. Part of her was wondering who'd answered the intercom because no one her age was even in sight. The adults continued to talk but Allison's attentions were elsewhere. Glancing back out through the glass front doors she could see her truck had already been moved away. She supposed Logan would be unloading her things to her room too.

When she realized that no one was missing her from the conversation, Allison wandered awa towards one of the far ends of the room and finally she could make out the noise of kids. Apparently the building's accousitcs were designed to reduce some of the ambient noise. She went down the hall, following the noise of what sounded like a scuffle and found a small group of guys seated around a big screen TV. Two of them were fighting over a controller.

"Come on man, it's my turn!"

"No way, ya played the last game, Icepick."

"Guthrie," the first one growled as they continued to wrestle.

"Drake," the other one mimicked as he rolled his brown hair friend over until they both fell off the couch.

They had one another in headlocks and a younger boy walked up to them, took the controller easily from them and sat down on the couch and started the next game with a dark haired, well tanned boy. The two who'd been wrestling stopped in their shock and looked up at the young boy. "Yo' dead, Jamie," the taller of the two said as he disentangled himself from the brawl. He stood up and Allison could see him a little better. He had longish blonde hair that came past his ears and he was taller than her even. He didn't look terribly bent of fulfilling his threat though.

"If something happens to me," the young boy with brown hair said, "You'll have Rogue to deal with when she gets back." He stuck out his tongue and then went back to devoting his full attention on the game.

Allison just stood in the doorway as the blonde finally turned and looked at her, seeing her for the first time. She hadn't met him last weekend at all. He bore a slight resemblance to Mark, but he was lankier in build. It made her miss Mark something terrible even if it had only been a few hours since she'd seen him. "Howdy," he said waving and it made his brown haired friend turn to look at her too.

"Hey y'all," she said waving nervously back. Suddenly she worried about being able to make friends. These kids had probably been together for a few years and she was new. There was no guarantee that she'd fit in. Even amongst them, she might still be considered weird.

The blonde instantly jumped over the back of the couch, nearly clipping the young boy in the head with his shoe in his hurry. "Say that again," he said as he approached her.

Allison licked her dry lips and while looking down at her shoes said very quietly, "Hey y'all?"

He had her by the shoulders and started to laugh. "Oh thank ya God. Another Southerner."

Allison blinked in surprise as she looked up at him and then past him to the equally surprised expressions of the other boys who'd paused their game. "Um, well, not really. I lived in Maryland and PA. Not all that far south."

"You don' sound it," he said nearly breathless holding her back to look at her more closely. "You eat grits?"

"Sometimes." He clapped her on the shoulder and she smiled. "I mean, you can't live south of the Mason-Dixon line and not like grits. It's cause for a lynching," she joked.

The brown haired boy nudged the darker boy and rolled his eyes. "Guess what we'll be eating now when Sam's on kitchen duty?" The other boy just wrinkled his nose.

"I like Sam's cooking," the younger boy said. He was still on the couch, leaning against the back, his arms crossed. "What's wrong with Sam's cooking?" he asked. Allison smiled at him and realized he was probably just barely in high school.

"There you are, Kid," Logan's gruff voice called from behind. "They're looking for you. Time to say goodbye." He nodded back down the hall towards the front foyer and Allison sidestepped away from the boy she assumed to be Sam.

"I'll see ya, 'round," she said ducking out the door.

She was almost to the foyer when she heard the room burst into laughter. "Might as well have jumped her, Sammy!" cried out one voice that was clear enough to be heard before there was another fit of laughter.


	4. God, Is That You?

**DaughterofPersephoneandHades: **Thanks for the love. I'm glad you're enjoying it!

**FYI:**  
>I do not own the X-men. However, I do own Allison. My fiance owns her truck.<p>

**Chapter 4: God, is that you?**

Only half an hour had passed since Allison had stood on the front steps of the mansion to hug and kiss her mother goodbye before Ororo Munroe drove her to the airport so that she could fly back home. Allison smiled knowing that her mother would find the adventure in flying back by way of two different puddle jumper sized planes that could only carry fifteen passengers.

She shook her head, dislodging the memory and the sad smile as she set about her task of unpacking all of her clothes from the trunk. Meanwhile, two blue eyed girls sat on the end of her bed and watched with avid curiosity. Their heads were even tilted in unison in order to try and get a better view. But there were some pretty stark differences between them. The first girl had purple hair and was a little older and already out of high school. The other girl was petite, a brunette and talked like a sweet valley girl.

As Allison knelt in front of her trunk, and by proxy them as well, she began to dig in for another armful of clothes as she spoke, "So let me get this straight. You're Betsy, my roommate." Allison nodded slightly towards the girl with purple hair who nodded and smiled. "And you're Kitty and you opened the gate for my mom and I tonight." The brunette nodded this time and Allison nodded herself as she took a deep breath and stood up to turn back towards the closet. _Great, _she thought, _by dinner tonight, I'll have 'em all forgotten._

_Don't worry about that, Luv. You'll get the hang of them eventually._

Allison's eyes snapped open wide as she heard the clear, distinctly British, female voice in her head. Somehow it didn't surprise her that God was a woman, but British? _I'm too young to die, God._

_That's a first. I'm a telepath._

Allison turned slowly to look back out at the girls sitting on the end of her bed and Betsy was waving at her and smiling. Allison shook her head and scolded herself for forgetting that there would be all kinds at the institute. She also made a mental note to try and think less clearly around others. "Okay, so she's a telepath, what are you?" she asked pointing at the petite girl.

"I can like phase through anything. And if I phase through electronics, they short circuit," Kitty said wiggling her hand through the air as if to demonstrate.

"That sounds really cool," Allison agreed.

"Well, like usually it's pretty awesome, but I've like gone through three alarm clocks in the past year."

Allison started to laugh and was immediately joined in by Kitty and Betsy. She reached into the trunk and pulled out the last of her clothes, her prom dress that she'd worn only a few short weeks ago.

Immediately, the laughter was cut as if by a knife as Betsy and Kitty stopped and stared. Their mouths formed little 'o's of wonder as they gazed upon the shimmering aqua material. "That's like so pretty," Kitty breathed finally.

Allison just looked down at the dress and shrugged with indifference. "My mom got it for me. I wasn't even going to go to the prom, but my best friend had an extra ticket after his girlfriend dumped him.

The two girls exchanged looks that reminded Allison of how her mother and Kelly would act whenever the conversation turned to these matters. "So, what's this friend's name, Luv?"

Allison let out a little sigh as she hung up the dress in the back corner of her closet. "His name's Mark and we've been best friends since I moved into that school district. In economics, we had to do this project one time where we had to pretend we were married. It was the most ridiculous thing we've ever done, but we didn't know who else to work with."

"Right..." Kitty said casting Betsy a knowing look as she waggled her eyebrows.

Allison just shot her a glare as she pulled her photo albums out from the bottom of the trunk and set them out on top of her dresser with a few picture frames. Already, it was starting to feel a little more like home.

Fearlessly, Kitty had followed Allison so that she could peek over her shoulder at the pictures. "Is that Mark?" she asked pointing at the picture that had used to live next to Allison's bed. Allison nodded as Kitty picked it up and scrutinized it more closely. "And like, that's you?" she asked in surprise as she recognized Allison in the football pads.

"Yeah," Allison admitted a little sheepishly. "I was the kicker for our team last season." The gaze that Kitty gave Allison was one of sheer wonder and respect.

"Hey Kitty, Kurt's looking for you." The girls turned to see a slender Indian girl standing in the doorway. Her long black hair was pulled back into a pair of long braids and she wore a soft brown shirt with jeans. Allison and the girl exchanged smiles before she went on her way again. Kitty ran after her, waving as she went and Allison and Betsy were left alone.

_That was Dani Moonstar. She's a psychic as well._

_Doesn't this place have enough psychics?_

_No such thing, Luv. _Betsy winked before going back to speaking out loud. "She's not the same though as the rest of us. Her powers take the form of projections and dreams. She can't actually read minds, at least not of humans.

Allison laid down on her bed just behind Betsy and sighed as she stretched her arms up over her head. "So, who's the third bed belong to?" she asked as she rolled over to lean on a propped up elbow.

Betsy glanced sideways at the emerald green comforter and frowned. "Rogue," she answered after a few moments.

"Didn't I hear she was in New Orleans?" Allison asked, her eyes wandering over the few personal effects that had been left behind.

"Yeah, she went to see her boyfriend," Betsy replied, her voice softening as if their additional roommate was a touchy subject. "We keep hoping she'll talk him into coming back soon."

"Hey, you guys going to eat or just lie around here?" The two girls looked up to see a vibrant girl with dark hair appeared in the doorway. She was dressed wildly in a hot pink shirt and bright yellow jacket.

"We're coming, Jubes," Betsy said as she stood up.

"Just hurry up, or I can't promise you that Kurt will leave anything." She took off running and Allison blinked as she looked up at Betsy.

Betsy just waved for Allison to follow her and the two left the room to head down to the kitchen. _That's Jubilee. She's a tiny bit on the wild side so just be careful you don't end up on the exploding end of one of her practical jokes._

Allison just looked at Betsy in confusion but didn't ask for an explanation. She wasn't sure she wanted one. As they passed one of the rooms, a redhead joined them and she smiled at Allison. Allison got the distinct feeling that there was no warmth behind it. They were the same height, but the redhead was of a far more slender frame than Allison. Allison was instantly self conscious next to this girl. "Hi, I'm Jean. You must be Allison."

Allison held out her hand in greeting but the Jean seemed to not see it. "I prefer Al...or Ally," she added after seeing Jean's discomfort at the first option for a nickname.

They entered the kitchen and dining room to find that almost the entire group of students were already there. Allison was overwhelmed by the number of people present at one time. There were teachers down at the far end and students that seemed to be seated almost by age or perhaps it was cliques. Betsy just took Allison by the elbow and led her towards the center of the table so that they were seated just between any students out of high school and those still in it. Allison glanced back to see that Jean had walked over to a counter and leaned over it to plant a kiss on a tall guy wearing shades. For a brief moment, Allison could feel an overwhelming dispair at that Mark was nowhere around.

_That's Scott Summers. _Betsy's voice resounded in Allison's head causing her to glance back at her roommate. _He's the field leader of the X-Men, one of Professor Xavier's first students. He wears the shades because if he didn't, we'd all be blasted into the next county._

It took Allison a moment to recover so that she didn't look like she was horrified by what was being served for dinner. Which was far from terrible seeing as she was staring into a bowl of mashed potatoes. Her eyes then flickered to the pair of guys she'd seen earlier wrestling over the game controller and Betsy immediately picked up on it.

_The blonde one is Sam Guthrie. We call him Cannonball because he can fly at super speeds and must have some invulnerability. _There was a hint of amusement at the last part before Betsy continued. _His best friend is Bobby Drake, the Iceman. He can create ice from water particles in the air. Pretty cool, and no pun intended. The little guy next to him is Jamie. Jamie came here when he was pretty young so he tends to hang out with the older guys out of familiarity. He's Multiple, the name gives it away but in case you were wondering, he can make copies of himself. Next to him is Sarah. She too has been here for a little while now, but she's completely taken with Jamie and Remy if he ever comes back. We call her Marrow and you can probably see why for yourself._

Allison's eyes followed Betsy's descriptions around the table. Betsy breezed over the group of youngsters, whom she lovingly referred to as anklebiters, at the far end of the table before rounding the end and coming back up.

_The guy with the to-die-for tan is Roberto, or Sunspot. He can use the sun's energy for super strength. Jubilee whom you met earlier can make fireworks-in all sizes. Next to her is Amara, who is by the way a real princess. We call her Magma. The guy with the crazy hair next to her is Ray, better known as Beserker. He can shoot bolts of electricity. Usually he just ends up short circuiting the mansion. Rahne is a lycanthrope so we call her Wolfsbane. I believe you've already met Kurt who is a teleporter. We call him Nightcrawler. He calls himself the 'Ze Fuzzy Dude'. The big guy on the other side of Kitty is Piotr or more aptly called, Colossus. He can cover himself in armor if need be. Did I miss anyone?_

_What about the adults? _Allison asked.

_Right! __Logan is invulnerable to everything. And as if his personality wasn't scary enough, he has claws too. Miss Frost is not only a telepath, but she can take on an invulnerable diamond form. Ororo is a weather witch. The really big blue guy, not to be confused with the 'fuzzy dude', is Dr. McCoy. He's our in house medic, and even though his nickname is Beast, he's anything but. The guy quotes Shakespeare, so you know he's gotta be a sweetie. Then there's the professor._

Allison gave Betsy an appreciative smile which the girl returned as she continued to eat. Apparently the psychic conversation had done little to deter her from her original reason for being there. Allison took a deep breath before starting to work on the contents of her own plate. She was starting to understand though what Jubilee had meant before. Just by getting a run down of who everyone was, she'd already missed most of the food disappearing from platters. Luckily, Betsy had been kind enough to put food on her plate for her.

"So what'd you do for fun?" Betsy switched to a verbal conversation which seemed to catch the interest of a few others.

Allison shrugged not entirely liking the spotlight. "Played sports mostly. I was on the softball and football teams. But we also had horseback riding, snow mobiling, those kinds of things. We made our own fun most of the time."

"So like what are your powers?" Kitty asked, entirely ignoring the warning glance she got from Ororo.

Allison chewed on her lower lip as she tried to think. She didn't even know herself yet. She'd been too frightened to try on her own. "Well, I don't really know yet. But apparently I can melt into a liquid and turn into a vapor. Something to do with water, I guess," she answered hesitantly.

"What about your folks?" Someone from the other end of the table asked and Allison swiveled her head around to see that it was Amara who'd asked. "Did they understand the whole mutant thing?"

As her gaze had shifted, she'd caught sight of Sam who was watching her with an intensity that was greater than his friends. To the rest, she was just the new kid. She couldn't figure out what his interest was. At least not yet. "My mom was cool about it and I haven't told my dad though." She didn't add in the last part that she was thinking which was that it didn't seem to matter since they hadn't spoken to one another in quite a few years. She didn't even know where to find him if she did want to speak to him.

Allison raised her glass to take a drink and was stunned as she realized that the water inside had begun to swirl. She quickly set it back down, watching with surpise at the miniature whirlpool that had started.

Allison was aware of a new voice now in her head. It was male, and kind. Her eyes flickered to meet the gaez of the professor as he continued to speak directly to her. _Try to relax, Allison. It's not unusual for mutant powers to be emotionally connected. Let go of whatever fear has just gripped you. You are safe here._

_Fear? _Allison had not been aware that she'd been feeling anything even remotely close to fear. Anger perhaps, but fear? Still she forced herself to tear her gaze away from the professor and look back down at the glass of water. The water still swirled and she was struck by the beauty of the phenomenon. Finally, it stilled and there was a round of applause from most of the students as Allison stood up somewhat awkwardly. "I've got to finish unpacking," she said excusing herself from the table. She nearly tripped on her chair and caught herself before quickly exiting.

* * *

><p>Sam was still staring at the glass of water in amazement and was only brought out of his thoughts when Roberto spoke up. "What was that all about?"<p>

Most of the guys were watching the new girl's hasty retreat from the dining room with open curiosity and Bobby snorted, shaking his head. "Girls. Who'll ever figure them out?" His face was soon contorted in pain as he grabbed at his shin from where Jubilee had delivered a sharp kick. "What?"

"You know what, Icepick," she snarled, crossing her arms over her chest.

The rest of dinner passed in near silence as there was really nothing that could top the water glass whirlpool. Any attempts by the younger students to goof around were quickly reprimanded thus making the silence feel even heavier.

As the dishes were cleared from the table, Sam stayed behind to take his turn at dish duty and did his best to not listen to the adults as they spoke at the end of the table. He tried to work as quickly as possible without breaking any plates and luckily he had a decent amount of experience in washing a lot of dishes all at once. That typically happened in a large family when you were the oldest.

He had just finished and was trying to slip away unnoticed when he was called over anyway. He tried to look innocent, which he was, but felt as though he was failing miserably. "Sam, I was wondering if you could do me a favor."

"Sure thing, Proff." Sam shrugged just grateful that it wasn't a reprimand for something Bobby had talked him into doing at some point. There were too many things that they'd gotten away with thus far that Sam worried that any minute now, they'd all catch up to him.

"Would you take this package up to Allison for me? She's in the same room as Betsy." Sam nodded but groaned inwardly. He'd once had a crush on Betsy. And if there's anything worse than just having an unrequited crush, it's having one on a psychic who knows about it all along.

Sam headed up the stairs to the dorms, two at a time, and diverted left towards the girls' rooms. He glanced around quickly hoping that no one would see him. He didn't want the rumor mill to start churning about him still liking Betsy. He'd barely survived it the last time. He sighed seeing that the coast was clear and knocked on the door. There was no response but he could clearly make out the rock music coming from inside. He knocked louder and the door opened after a few moments. Allison looked genuinely surprised that someone was even knocking and after a moment recovered as she smiled. "Hey, Allison."

"Uh, don't call me that," she said as she walked away to turn down the music a little. "Only my mother calls me that and that's only when she's mad. Call me Al, or Ally or just about anything but Allison. And if you're looking for Bets, I think she's downstairs." She turned to see that Sam was still standing awkwardly in the doorway and she rolled her eyes as she waved him in.

"Actually, the proff sent meh ta give ya this," Sam said holding up the box he'd been tasked with. She pushed herself upright from where she'd been leaning against her dresser and took the box from my his hands. While she inspected it, he took the chance to look around her room to see that it had changed since he'd last spent any time there. Most of Rogue's things were more or less packed away and Kitty's obnoxiously pink themed items had been replaced. Allison's section of the room was decorated in royal blue and she still had some things lying around in piles waiting to find a new home. Sam couldn't help but eye up the various piles of sporting goods and a bookshelf that she must have been in the middle of overcrowding when he'd knocked.

She tossed the box unceremoniously onto her bed and turned back to the bookshelf and began finding new ways to wedge the books into the available space.

"So, Ah, uh, overheard ya talkin' 'bout football at dinner. Yo' a cheerleader?" Sam asked trying to fill the awkward silence.

She froze, set down the book she'd been holding and looked back at him over her shoulder. "Do I look like a cheerleader?" she asked with one eyebrow arched high.

"No..."

"Good," she said in a relieved tone as she went back to her task.

"So, why were ya talkin' 'bout football?" He hesitated for a moment and then decided to sit down on the end of Betsy's bed. He figured he didn't want to push his luck too far by assuming he could sit on Allison's.

"'Cause I was on the team last year. We went to states and everything. I was thinking about trying out here in Bayville."

"Cool," he breathed. "What position did ya play?"

"Kicker...and then during the last part of playoffs, one of our runningbacks got hurt, so I filled in." She'd moved on from the books and was now unloading a box of sporting equipment: a well-worn softball glove, batting gloves, catching equipment, and finally a football was pried loose as well. She looked at it all appraisingly before shoving it all into the bottom of her closet under the racks of hanging clothes.

"Maybe we can go sign up at the same time," Sam offered.

Her head instantly popped back out of the closet. "You play?"

He shrugged. "Runningback. I was only on JV last year, so I'm trying out for Varsity this time."

She nodded as she stood up and brushed off her jeans. "That actually souds like a plan. The professor says I need to get enrolled into the school as soon as possible if I want to get onto any of the fall teams. So if you don't mind hanging around the high school waiting on me that sounds great."

"No problem." Sam scratched the back of his head and looked away for a moment. "Um, ya mind drivin'? Ah only have a permit," he admitted and she laughed as she nodded.

"That's fine with me. I'd be lost anyway if you didn't ride along. You don't mind beat-up, ol' Chevys, do you?"

"Not at all," he answered grinning. "Ah used ta drive one on the farm in Kentucky all the time. Didn' need a license to do that. Well, Ah'll see ya in the Danger Room tomorrow morning...bright an' early," Sam said as he stood up to leave.

"What do I wear to that?" she asked suddenly a little panicked as she glanced back into her closet.

Sam just laughed and pointed at the box on the bed in answer to her question before leaving. She watched him leave and couldn't help thinking that he was a near clone to Mark. They both seemed to have some self-esteem problems. Nevermind that they're both farm boys too. She sat down on her bed and spun the box towards herself and tore it open. Inside was a jumpsuit made out of some kind of material she couldn't quite put her finger on. It seemed far to heavy to be spandex. It was mostly black with electric blue accents. There was a blue collar at the neckline and blue lines running down the sides and legs. A pair of light gray 'X's adorned the shoulders and there was a matching symbol on the belt too. A pair of blue ankle high boots with black buckles were in the bottom of the box with a pair of gray and blue gloves that had the fingers cut off.

Allison held the suit out in front of her as she stood up and couldn't imagine the thing fitting her. It looked tiny by comparison to her in the mirror's reflection. She looked back down at the box and saw a note tucked under one of the boots.

_Dear Allison,_  
><em>Welcome to the Xavier Institute. I hope that you find the uniform to your liking. Like the rest of the students, everyone has a code name that is used in training and combat. Unless, you object, yours will be Hydra. I think you will find it to be interesting.<em>  
><em>Once again welcome,<em>  
><em>Charles Xavier<em>

She reread the note again wishing that it would have included instructions on how to get into the suit but nothing more revealed itself. _Hydra, huh?_ She remembered the creature from mythology. It was said that if you cut off one of its heads, two more would grow back in its place. It also sounded like it was water related so she assumed that had more to do with it than the multiple lives aspect.

Reading the note again, she picked up on the word 'combat' which she'd overlooked before and frowned. They certainly hadn't mentioned that during the introductory spiel to the institute. She tossed the uniform over the back of her desk chair and looked around the room feeling satisfied with job of unpacking. It still had a sterile, unused feel to it, but she figured she'd give it a week and then it would feel just like home.

"There you are, luv. You gonna come down and join us?" Allison looked up to see Betsy leaning in their open doorway. The girl was twirling purple strands of hair through her fingers as she looked over the change in their room.

"I dunno know, I think I might crash," Allison admitted. It was still somewhat early, but she felt exhausted from everything that had happened in one day.

"No, you're going to be semi-normal and sociable," Betsy contradicted as she linked her arm through Allison's and led her from the room. It took Allison a moment, but she finally got herself turned around and followed willingly. "Was that Sam I saw coming outta there?"

"Yeah. He was giving me my uniform. We also talked shop about football."

"He's really excited about trying out."

"I picked up on that."

"So you're really not completely clueless," Betsy teased as they reached the main hall.

"Hey! I resent that," Allison fired back and by the time their playful squabble was over, they were in the living room where the guys were arguing over what to watch on TV. The decision had come down between the X-Games and Soccer and it was quite the heated debate.

"Let the newbie pick," Ray suggested when he saw Betsy and Allison enter the room.

A half dozen pairs of eyes trained themselves on Allison as she considered the options. "X-Games?" she said slowly and Sam grabbed the remote and turned on ESPN2 with a shout of glee.

"How much did he pay you off for?" Bobby asked which immediately got him hassled by the other boys as the jerked him around to sit out of their line of sight.

Allison moved around the end of the couch and considered the amount of space that was left. The boys were a little spread out but there was room for one more if they could be convinced to squeeze a little. She grinned as she moved to the center of the couch blocking their view of the TV. Instantly, they parted like the sea for Moses and she quickly sat down in the middle before propping her feet up on the coffee table. She sighed as she sank back into the cushions and watched the motocross race with as much enthusasium as the other boys.

Kitty started to giggle from behind the couch, causing Allison to twist around to look back. "I've like never seen anyone get their attention during the middle of a sports thing."

"You just gotta know what it takes to make 'em move. In this case, the same thing that would make me move," Allison replied grinning causing Kitty to shake her head in amusement.

Kitty leaned back towards the girls who were also laughing at the boys' reaction to the new girl. "She like totally fits in with the guys, you know?"

Jubes gave an indifferent shrug as she tried to pay attention to her magazine instead. "Uh huh."

"Hey don't sound so down, Jubes. It's not like Bobby's falling for her," Amara teased. "In fact, it's more like he hates her guts. She's more of a guy than he is and it's messing with his head some."

Amara, Betsy and Kitty broke into giggles at the thought of Bobby being emasculated. Betsy was too kind to share a mental image of Bobby in a skirt. But just about any guy compared to Allison had his work cut out for him. She was into everything and if it ended in the word 'ball' she played it. If it had to do with engines, she could run it. If you needed a decent belch, the had no doubt she could pull it off.

"She seems really nice though." We all nodded in agreement with Betsy's assessment. She was nice, almost too nice because at the institute, things were sometimes a little too chaotic for being too nice. Every once in a while, you had to stand up for yourself or run the risk of being run over.

"I don't think she'll last five minutes tomorrow morning though." Amara's comment brought another round of nodding. Danger Room sessions were grueling for everyone. They were hell for first timers.

"We'll like all have to wish her luck then," Kitty declared, but deep down she just hoped that her new friend would survive Logan's training.


	5. Water Also Has a Freezing Point

**To Cheyy**: Thank you for your kind words! I'm so glad that you're enjoying it. I enjoy writing it! I think that part of the enjoyment though stems from knowing that getting Allison's story out means that eventually I get to share one of my most treasured characters of all someday.

**FYI:**  
>I do not own the X-men. However, I do own Allison. And at my most delirious, I would like to claim that I own Deadpool too. I guess comics will just have to do. But since Deadpool breaks the fourth wall on a regular basis, does this mean that he knows I own him?<p>

**Chapter 5: Water also has a Freezing Point**

As the alarm clock continued its insistant beeping, Allison rolled over and attempted to press her face deeper into the pillow. She batted off what she believed to be her mother shaking her shoulder and was instead greeted by a British alto voice. "Luv, it's time to get up. We've got a training session."

Allison opened just one eye and found herself looking at someone who didn't even vaguely resemble her mother. In her surprise, she rolled over and fell out of the bed and onto the floor, her feet still tangled in the sheets. Her roommate just laughed at her struggle. "It's too fucking early," Allison griped. "I've never gotten up this early before in my life. Not even for football." She kicked fiercely but her legs refused to come free. "God damn it! Someone cut these things off!" Betsy finally took pity and walked over and gently tugged on one of the sheets that caused the rest to easily fall away. "Thanks," Allison muttered getting up to her unsteady feet.

She crossed the room to gather her uniform and slowly began to pull it on. It surprised her that it stretched to fit her and she walked over to admire herself in the mirror. She turned slowly taking in her appearance and after a moment, she loosened the belt by three notches so that it hung loosely off her hips. She smiled at her less militaristic look and pulled her hair back into a ponytail. She frowned at her green eyes, wishing that they would cooperate and turn blue to match her uniform, and they did but only for a second. She let out a small sigh of frustration and turned to her roommate. "How do I look?"

"Bloody awesome," Betsy said grinning. "You ready luv?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," Allison answered shaking her head. But she let Betsy lead her into the depths of the institute until they were somewhere deep underground. Allison was too tired to pay much attention as to where she was being taken.

They entered a large dome-like room and Allison's head swiveled all around in amazement. It was approximately three stories high and looked like half a sphere. Standing in a cluster was a large group of the students with Logan. "You two are late," Logan growled as he tapped his foot impatiently. Although he didn't wear a watch he tapped his wrist to make his point.

"It's my fault, luv. I woke her up late," Betsy said apologetically and a couple of the other students snickered.

Allison's eyes flickered over the group as she tried to remember everyone's names from dinner the night before. There was Scott and Jean, Kurt, Kitty, Piotr, Amara, Ray, Bobby, Jubilee, and Roberto. Her eyes finally met the gaze of Sam and she blushed slightly when she realized he was appreciatively taking in her appearance. She wasn't at all used to anyone checking her out. Ray also caught Sam's gaze and elbowed him in the ribs while trying to keep his chuckle low. Ray then waggled his own eyebrows at Allison and feigned a wolf whistle.

"Right…today we're doing the labyrinth simulation. Work together as a team and get through it as quickly as you can. Sooner you're out, the sooner you can do your own things." Logan then walked out of the room and the door closed solidly behind him.

Scott immediately launched himself into leader mode as the room began to change around them. "Kurt and Kitty, I want the two of you to scout ahead. Amara and Ray, hang back and cover out backs…" Allison was deeply unsettled as walls began to rise up and if some of the students hadn't quickly stepped forward into a tighter cluster, they would have been cut off from the group.

Bobby snickered when he saw the concern on Allison's face. To them, this was a relatively basic training. Sure there would be a few obstacles through the labrynth, but nothing too terrible. "Don't worry, we'll make sure you get out in one piece," he said as he clapped a hand down on Allison's shoulder. He hadn't even been looking at her when he did it because he was making too much of a point to look at Sam as he smirked. He knew that Sam had taken a liking to her and wanted to get his digs in where he could. However the expression on Sam's face caused Bobby to frown, then to wrinkle his brow in confusion before finally looking to his side to see that Allison had been replaced by an ice statuette. "Oh shit..."

"What'd ya do to her?" Sam sputtered, his eyes still wide as saucers as he stared at Allison's pale blue and slightly sparkling appearance. She was entirely composed of crystalline ice and Sam was able to see through her to see Bobby who was backpedaling away. Not even Bobby in his ice form was like this. Bobby instead looked as though he were covered in a heavy layer of ice armor but was still very much human inside of it. Whereas Allison was now pure ice and it was somewhat perturbing to think that there were no organs or at least none that could be seen.

"I d-didn't do anything," Bobby stammered as he quickly pulled away to stare for himself. "I just put my hand on her shoulder. I swear I didn't do this on purpose." He looked to his best friend for affirmation but got none as Sam remained silent after his initial shock. "You believe me, right?"

Gazes started to swivel towards Scott expectantly but Sam's never left Allison. Maybe he was expecting her to be able to move the way that Bobby would but their powers were different. He was even hoping that Logan might come back even though he wasn't sure what good that would do. Finally, after what Sam thought was an eternity, Scott spoke. "Magma, see if you can't warm her up. Gently though," he warned.

Amara nodded as she stepped to the front of the cluster that had formed around Allison's frozen form. She waved everyone off before taking on her flaming form and everyone slowly backed away even further as Amara slowly stepped towards Allison until she was about a foot away. At first, Allison became more opaque and then the color slowly returned to Allison's face. The group let out a sigh of relief as it looked like she was beginning to move as he shoulders relaxed and her hands unclenched.

But Sam realized that her eyes still had not opened and that she was actually falling. He skidded in on his knees behind Allison, catching her as she fell in his arms and held back the grunt when he realized that she weighed a decent amount more than some of the other girls on the team. He stood shakily after a moment and turned to look at Scott and made a slight nod towards the labrynth. _Any day now,_ he thought.

A part of Sam was frustrated that he was now more or less incapacitated for the training, granted there was nothing he could do that someone else couldn't in the labyrinth. Not unless being a human pinball counted for something. The first few steps were the most difficult but he shifted her weight a little and found it got easier.

"Look man, I'm really sorry," Bobby apologized for the fiftieth time as they continued to walk. Sam cast him a sideways glance but said nothing in return. "I really, really didn't do it on purpose. I was just...messing around."

"Bobby, jus' shut up," Sam hissed.

This had the opposite effect though. "Look, I totally respect that you like her, but she's gonna _hate_ me now."

"She ain't gonna hate you. Confused, most definitely. But Ah doubt she'll hate ya," Sam responded as he paused to shift her weight in his arms once more. Her head was now resting against his shoulder and looked down into her slightly paled face and sighed.

"I'd still really appreciate it if you could talk to your girlfriend though and tell her I didn't mean anything by it."

"Bobby, she ain't my girlfriend!" Sam huffed causing half the team to stop and look back at them. Sam's cheeks instantly burned bright red and he hastened his pace a little. "Ah've known her for as long as you have-two days," Sam hissed once everyone had returned their focus to a pair of laser guns. "How could she possibly be mah girlfriend."

"She likes you, you like her?" Bobby asked. "I mean, it's pretty obvious."

If Sam's hands wouldn't have been full, he would have slugged Bobby for all he was worth. He didn't care how much trouble he would have gotten into for starting a fight in the middle of training.

But instead, Allison's eyes were fluttering open and she blinked up at him in surprise. "I'm not doing very well at this training thing, am I?"

Sam nearly laughed but instead shook his head as he smiled. "Not exactly yo' fault."

Bobby shoved his face over Sam's shoulder and gave her a chagrined look. "I'm really, really sorry."

"Are ya tryin' ta freeze her again?" Sam muttered nudging Bobby back as best he could.

Allison's confused gaze just passed from one boy to another. "I don't think I understand."

"Apparently yo' abilities and Bobby's don' mix well," Sam said after a moment's thought. "He touched ya, and ya intantly froze."

"That sounds bad," she agreed before looking up to Bobby. "I'm sorry too. The proffessor can f igure something out, right?" Bobby shrugged in response but looked to be relieved as she so easily absolved him of any guilt. Gently, Allison tapped Sam on the shoulder and met his gaze. "I might be able to walk. I know I can't be that easy to carry." She was blushing pretty good considering that not terribly long ago she'd been frozen solid. She kept thinking about the few times that Mark had tried to carry her over his shoulder or something and had made such a big deal about her weight. She knew she wasn't fat at all, but nonetheless she was uncomfortably aware that her active lifestyle meant that she had more muscle bulk than most high school girls.

Sam hesitantly put her down on her own feet and she wavered. Instinctively, Bobby went to help catch her before awkwardly halting himself. Sam did catch her though and pulled her in so that she was leaning on his shoulder. If possible, Allison blushed harder to find herself in his arms again. She slowly pushed herself upright and took a few wobbly steps before getting the hang of it again. They walked in silence behind the rest of the group and eventually Bobby moved up further to start helping with the various obstacles. "Ah didn' think ya were that heavy," Sam said trying to break the awkward silence but if anything, made it worse.

Allison just scratched the back of her head and let out a long puff of air. "Thanks," she said quietly. "For everything. "You didn't have to help me like that. I appreciate it."

"Yo' welcome," Sam answered smiling. "Besides, any one of us woulda done it. We're a team."

She glanced sideways at him and nodded. "Right. I knew that."

Sam was just wondering if he'd managed to say something wrong when she abruptly pushed him away. He landed sprawled on his back to watch as she dissipated before his eyes. A laser fired directly where they'd been standing. Abruptly, he was lifted from his shoulders and he looked back to see Allison behind him. He found his feet and immediately rocketed himself at the laser gun, he bounced off the wall after destroying the gun and landed roughly on the ground where she ran over and helped him back to his feet again. "You okay?" he asked getting up and rubbing his head.

"I should be asking you that!" she admonished and he grinned. "That was very cool," she admitted as she smiled in return.

"So was that disappearing act of yours. That could really come in handy."

She gave a bashful smile as they caught up with the others at the labrynth exit. However, Logan's promise that they sooner they got through the sooner they got done did not include the dozen laser cannon armed robots waiting for them. Allison once again dissipated as a round of shots were fired in their direction and Sam immediately went into action as he aimed for the heads.

Allison pulled herself together along the wall of the room and watched as her teammates tore apart the robots with enthusiasm. She was startled by the violence that even timid little Kitty seemed to take up with such glee. One of the robots seemed to notice that Allison was not in the melee and turned towards her. She saw it coming and ran at it, and at the last second she jumped up and delivered a hard kick to the robot's head causing the head to dislodge and hang awkwardly to the side. The robot powered down and Allison backed away slowly as she surveyed the scene around her again. Apparently her teammates were used to robots because they were making short work of them all. They seemed to be in various states of melting, short circuiting, falling apart and even frozen in place.

The Danger Room door opened and Logan walked in as the students naturally fell back into a group to listen to his debrief. Allison received quite a few pats on the back and shoulders including a thumbs up from Bobby. "Not bad. A little slower than normal," he noted lazily. "Good thinking on your feet early on One-Eye. Ice Cube, at least attempt to control your powers," he added raising an eyebrow in Bobby's direction and Bobby chewed his lower lip. "And I'll admit, you made a good recover, Kicks."

Allison got a gently nudge in the ribs from Betsy who winked. "That means you've done really, really well, Luv. Logan's nicknames are a rite of passage." They followed the group as they all filed out of the Danger Room towards the locker rooms greatful that training for the day was over.

"I'm like totally spending the whole day by the pool," Kitty proclaimed as she stretched her arms over her head.

"That sounds like a plan to me, Luv," Betsy agreed as she followed her through the door.

Allison hung back for a moment and spotted Sam over some of their classmates' heads. She waved and headed over to him and Bobby as they paused outside the boys' locker room. "Hey. See you topside in an hour?" she asked Sam.

Bobby shot Sam a look which was promptly ignored. "Sure...sounds good."

She grinned as she turned and ran back to the girls' locker room, waving back over her shoulder.

Bobby just punched Sam in the shoulder and started to sing loudly, "Sammy and Allison sitting in a tree..."

"Bobby, you are so pushin' it now," Sam growled as he tackled Bobby through the door and to the ground. The boys inside scattered to make room as the two started to wrestle, the entire time Bobby doing his best to keep singing.

"K...I-owww...S...Shit...I...Nhhh...G!"

Scott finally managed to grab Sam by the shoulders and haul him off. "Break it up you two! If you're going to go all at it, do it outside where you're less likely to break something."

"Gladly," Sam said through gritted teeth as he glared at Bobby who was trying to stop grinning.

He was still highly amused by Sam's refusal to admit that he liked a girl. Bobby finally snorted and shook his head. "Save your energy for the football field. You're gonna need it."

Sam paused realizing that his friend was probably right. It wasn't that hard to believe that Allison might try out for the same position as him. She also had a serious advantage over him in that she'd already played at the varsity level before. Sam just set his jaw, grabbed his things and went straight upstairs to change in his room. He suddenly didn't feel like being around all the other guys much longer.

* * *

><p>"Like did you see Sam when Al got frozen?" Kitty asked shooting Allison a grin. Allison did her best to ignore the chatter as she ran a brush through her hair trying to make something of the knots that had mysteriously formed. "Like, he was totally worried about you."<p>

When Allison made a break for the door, Rhane jumped into her way. "It's not every day that Sam gets a crush. How about it, Bets?"

Allison followed Rhane's gaze to Betsy who was rolling her eyes at the implication. "That wasn't a big deal, Luv. This is far more serious. He just met you yesterday."

"You people seriously need to get a life," Allison sighed as she pulled her hair back into a ponytail. "It's no wonder I usually tend to hang with guys more than girls." She shook her head in disbelief at the gossip and was about to head for the door when she realized that Jubilee and Amara had formed a tag team blockade.

"Come on you can't say you don't like him," Amara teased running a hand through her dark tresses.

"He actually is kinda cute, if you go for that whole rebel look," Jubilee added with a nod.

"With the jean jacket…"

"And long hair…"

"You two are too much. I'm going…" Allison said as she melted down into a puddle and reformed behind them. She wrapped her arms around both of their shoulders from behind and grinned. "Now." Finally, free she went out the door and left the girls to their giggles.

"Wow, could she have taken that any worse? You'd think we'd accused her of falling for someone like Scott," Jubilee snickered along with just about everyone else.

Jean finally came around the corner from the showers as she towel dryed her hair looking confused. "What's this about Scott?" she asked shaking out her long red hair as everyone froze.

"Nothing!" came the chorus of responses from just about everyone else in the room at the time. Jean just shrugged her shoulders and grabbed her things before leaving the locker room. "She like totally has to be dying her hair!"


	6. Some Advice From Your Shrink

**To Cheyy**: I just couldn't let it be that easy for her. Just had to toss in a little intrigue in the poor girl's direction.

**FYI:  
><strong>I do not own the X-Men. I do however own Allison. She's sort of like the child I hope to never have in real life. You'll better understand and appreciate this statement later. Maybe not this chapter, but at some point. I promise.

**Chapter 6: Some Advice From Your Shrink**

Allison leaned against the driver's door of her truck waiting for Sam so that she could get to the school and become an official Bayville student. She wasn't looking forward to the necessary evil of the registration process but she knew that the sooner she got it over with the sooner she'd be eligable for athletics.

In the not-so-back of her mind, she was mulling over what the girls had been talking about in the locker room after training. She didn't want to admit that there was any truth to what they were saying, but she'd be lying. It had certainly been an interesting training to find herself waking up in his arms. Perhaps they were right that he'd taken a liking to her, but she wasn't so sure about where her own head was. It had been just barely a full day since she'd last seen Mark. Just barely a day since he'd kissed her for the first time and gone and changed everything. Allison liked knowing where she stood in the world. That kiss however had turned her world upside down.

She waved when she saw Sam come into the garage and he hesitantly waved back, but there was no smile. Just as the girls had described him earlier, he was wearing a denim jacket and his hair was hanging long around his ears. And from the look of his long face, he'd apparently been on the receiving end of some harassing too. Allison chewed her lower lip as he walked around the truck and climbed up into the passenger seat. As she started up the engine, the radio went to static and Allison quickly turned down the volume. "So what are the good stations around here?" she asked seeing if it would break the silence and get some kind of converation going again.

"Depends what yo' in to," he said with a small shrug.

"Anything but the classics and oldies…and Britney." Allison shuddered at the last and Sam laughed as he started to fiddle with the knob. He tuned it in to a radio station that was currently spitting out Marshall Mathers and Allison nodded in agreement to his choice. He sat back wordlessly as Allison negotiated the truck out of the garage and down the long drive. By the time they'd reached the gate, his silence was already grating on her nerves. She glanced sideways at him and vowed that she'd force him to talk. "Hey, don't forget your my navigator. I don't know where I'm going."

"Right. Sorry," he said rousing from his thoughts. "Turn left."

Allison just raised an eyebrow but turned as directed. _We're gonna have to expand on those answers. _However, he didn't say much more the entire way there unless it was to point out a direction to turn in. Once they got to the highschool he pointed to a parking lot near the gymnasium and she parked in the closest spot available next to the gym.

They climbed out and crossed the lot together to find a way into the gym and then find the bulletin board where the sign up sheets were located for the girls' soccer and football teams. Already, fifty names were on the list for football and so directly underneath of _Sam Guthrie_, Allison jotted down _Al Williams_ so that her name wouldn't get scratched off by the very next guy who signed up.

"I'll walk ya down to the office," he offered thumbing towards another exit from the gym and the walked past several trophy cases and empty classrooms on their trip.

"A guy like you, I'm surprised you even know where the office is," Allison joked but could see that Sam's brows were knitted in thought.

"Trust me, you'll get to see plenty of Principal Kelly by the end of your first semester. He likes to keep an eye on the 'mutant menace'," Sam said with finger quotes around the last part. There was a slight edge to his voice that made Allison realize how much he resented being stuck under that header.

"I thought this place was to be some kind of a safehouse," Allison commented as she could see the office coming up. It was a large, well-lit glass box near the front doors of the school. From where they were, it looked to be empty.

Sam just shrugged. "The institute is the safest place there is. Trouble is that once ya leave the grounds…no one really cares anymore." They reached the office door, and Sam waved Allison to go ahead in as he waited out in the hall.

She glanced back briefly at him but he gave her a reassuring smile as he dug his hands into his jacket pockets. Allison walked up to the counter and after a quick surveilling glance realized there was no secretary in sight. She leaned over the counter slightly to gaze back down the hall towards the principal's and vice principal's offices. "Yoo hoo," she called. "Anybody home?"

There was the sound of papers being shuffled down the hall and she rocked back on her heels to wait for the person to show themselves. She was eventually faced by a stern looking man with glasses. "Can I help you with something?" he asked without any form of a salutation.

"Yeah...I'm new," Allison said slowly as she eyed him up.

The man adjusted his glasses as if to get a better look at her and she shuffled her feet nervously under his gaze.

"We normally don't deal with the new students until a week before school starts."

"That's cool and all, but I wanna play football. And I think tryouts are Friday, so I kinda need to register now." He pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose and took a good hard look at her. "Yeah, I'm a girl and if you take a picture, it'll last longer. Can you get me registered or am I wasting my time now?" Allison asked boldly.

He ducked behind the counter and returned with a clipboard and pen. "Fill these out. I'll be back for them in a minute or two." He cast her a glare before turning on his heel.

Allison took the items and watched as he disappeared down the hall again. She shook her head before taking a seat and began to fill out the forms. She glanced back through the glass a few times to see that Sam was anxiously pacing back and forth. When he noticed her looking, he stuck out his tongue and she returned the favor with a smile to boot.

She finally focused on the forms in front of her and began filling out all of the required information.

_Name: Allison Williams  
>Birthdate: August 16th, 1987<br>Hair Color: Brown, Red, Blonde  
>Eye Color: Green, Blue<br>Height: 5'10"  
>Weight: 145<br>Address: 1407 Graymalkin Lane  
>Completed Courses: Accounting I &amp; II, Various Computer Courses, Latin I &amp; II, American Literature, AP American History, Mythology, Honors English, Biology, Physics, AP Chemistry I, Statistics, Trigonometry, Pre-Calculus<em>

She stood up and returned to the counter with the pen clipped to the board and cleared her throat loudly. The man return looking rather annoyed by her behavior but Allison just smiled as she handed over the form. He glanced through her answers quickly and then set it down on the counter, slowly spinning it so that it faced her. "You missed a question," he said tapping the pen to the paper.

"I did?" she asked, her brows arching up in surprise. She couldn't imagine what else they'd wanted to know. She allowed her eyes to follow the line of the pen down to the bottom of the page and Allison frowned as she read.

_Check all that apply:  
>Caucasion<br>Hispanic  
>African American<br>Asian American  
>Mutant<br>Non-Mutant_

She looked back up at him and smiled brilliantly. "Why don't ya take a guess?" she asked. He didn't look at all amused. "I'm Irish/German," she said pushing the clipboard back to him.

"Only freaks live at the Xavier Institute," he said smiling thinly. "And if you don't complete this form truthfully, I'll have no choice but to ban you from extracurricular activities." Allison glared at him bedgrudgingly and checked the boxes next to Caucasion and Mutant. "Welcome to Bayville High, Miss Williams." Allison did not miss the ice in his voice as she exited the office.

"You okay?" Sam asked as the office door closed behind Allison and he got a good look at the simpering glare on her face.

"Just peachy," she snarled casting a backwards glance over her shoulder at Principal Kelly who was still smirking at the counter.

"'S jus' a guess, but ya met our esteemed Principal Kelly." Sam realized that Allison was already halfway down the hall without him and he jogged to catch up. "So are ya gonna be allowed ta try out?"

"I guess so," she muttered digging for her keys in her pocket. She climbed in behind the steering wheel and leaned across to unlock his door for him. As Sam climbed up into the cab, she dropped her head onto the steering wheel causing the horn to blast. When she raised it again, she paused before looking at Sam. "I need ice cream. Please tell me this town has ice cream."

"We have ice cream?" he answered hesitantly and a smile finally crossed her face.

* * *

><p>Sam stood back and watched as Allison moved slowly along the ice cream counter like a critic. In fact it seemed as though she were trying to not only memorize the selection but also assign each flavor the correct Crayola color shade.<p>

The girl working behind the counter was cleaning and Sam swallowed a groan when he recognized her as the new head cheerleader at the high school. She might as well have also been the captain of Principal Kelly's fan club too. When she looked up into the mirror behind the counter her smile fell upon recognizing Sam for herself. She turned towards the counter and shot him a nasty glare that made him wish he could melt into a puddle like Allison was able to. "What do you want, freak?" she snarled.

Allison's eyebrows popped up in surprise at the rudeness and she glanced back at Sam as he ordered. "A tub of cookies n' cream," he replied calmly.

She scooped out the ice cream and slammed it down on the counter and held out her hand expectantly for payment. Sam was about to dig into his pockets when Allison quickly sidestepped between them. "I'd like a milkshake from orange sherbert and some extra pineapple topping, please."

"That's a smoothie. We don't do smoothies," the girl said crossing her arms over her chest.

Allison's smile was bordering on falling but she managed to keep it up. "You do serve milkshakes as the menu states in any flavor. And for an extra dollar I get to add whatever topping I want." Allison pointed to the large menu hanging on the wall behind the girl's head and all she received in return was a snarl as the girl begrudgingly set to work making her smoothie/shake.

The smoothie/shake made it's appearance on the counter much the same way that Sam's icecream had and Allison smiled as she picked it up. "Six ninety-five," the girl sighed.

Allison dug out a ten dollar bill from her pocket before Sam could respond and while she waited for her change, she dug back into her pocket for a penny. When she got her change back, Allison pocketed it and pitched the penny into the tip jar with a smile and a small wave.

Sam turned towards the corner booth unable to hide his surprise at the way that Allison had handled the girl. Apparently she wasn't used to taking no for an answer. "I could have paid for my own," he said as he slid into the booth.

"Consider it payment for the ten cent tour," Allison responded as she slid in across from him and promptly began unsheathing her straw.

"Expensive ten cents," he joked as he played with his ice cream.

Allison shrugged. "Inflation." She took a long drag from her smoothie and smiled for real for the first time since getting to the high school.

Sam glanced over at the girl behind the counter who was still glaring daggers at the pair of them. "Here's a tip. Don' go 'round makin' enemies with all the cheerleaders. You'll have ta put up with Becca Johnson an' her goon squad later on durin' football season."

Allison just shrugged it off. "It's not my fault she was acting like a real soda-jerk." She took another sip from her smoothie as she watched Sam continue to push his ice cream around the bowl without eating it. "Penny for your thoughts."

"Would that be the same penny you tipped with or is this gonna be an inflated penny?" he asked giving her a sideways glance.

"She was a smart ass with me, she deserved a crappy tip. Lord knows I've gotten my share of bad tips." She poked at her smoothie/shake with a straw then decided it was drinkable. After she finished her sip she went right back to her question. "So what's on your mind?"

"Not much," Sam said with a shrug.

"Right…let me guess. Girl trouble?" Sam started at her assumption causing Allison to grin. "You're as easy to read as my friend, Mark, back home. Both of you are cursedly girl shy."

"Old boyfriend?" Sam asked suddenly worried that once again he was going to be on the losing end of interest.

Allison missed the twinge in his voice as she considered her answer. "I'm actually still trying to figure that one out," she said finally with a weak smile. And she really was. They had been best friends it felt like since forever and then on the morning he leaves, he goes and kisses her like that? "And don't go trying to change the subject." She took another sip of her smoothie and rested her chin on her fist in thought. "So who's the lucky girl? Jubilee? Amara? Or someone I haven't met from the high school?"

"First off, none of the above. Secondly, Jubilee is datin' mah best friend, Ah'm not nearly good enough fo' Amara, an' Ah don' talk ta many girls at school. Ah hardly talk ta the girls at the institute except for at dinner an' training."

"Verdicts in," Allison said slapping her hand down on the table. "Guilty of girl shy and self-bashing. You need a confidence boost, besides you're talking to me."

"What are you, my shrink?" he asked raising an eyebrow and not at all missing the irony that she of all people was giving him advice on dating.

"Hon, you wouldn't be able to afford me." She grinned as she poked at the shake some more. She burped and laughed at herself, causing Sam to give her a strange look. It wasn't one of those girly embarrassed giggles but one that a guy would have. "Sorry, not very girl-like of me. Then again, I'd have to kill myself if I acted like that." She jerked a thumb at Becca and laughed again. She blushed a little when she saw Sam's reaction and took to stabbing her smoothie again. "So tell me about yourself. I'm sure you've got some great qualities that you just don't let others know about."

"Ah'm really not that good at talkin'," Sam admitted.

"Yeah, well, I'm not so hot of a listener either. But eventually we have to learn so we'll both get that outta the way here and now." She waited impatiently for him to start talking as he pushed the melted ice cream around the bowl. "Okay, so what do you like to do…other than football?"

"Ah used to ride dirt bikes a lot back home." She smiled and waved her hand for him to keep talking. "Horses too. Well, everyone in Kentucky rode horses," he said shrugging his shoulders.

She caught his lull and popped another question at him. "I rode dirt bikes and four wheelers back home too. Any good spots around here?"

"There used ta be this great canyon, but they dammed it up an' flooded it. There are some other areas too. Mostly though if we go on some kinda road trip, we go ta the beach. You'll probably learn ta surf like the rest of us."

Allison rested her cheek in her hand as she listened to him. "Sounds cool. Ever go water skiing? I'd love to try that sometime."

"No…but we've tried ta talk Logan into it. Eventually we'll get 'im outnumbered or just bug 'im into it." Sam took a few bites of his ice cream and was starting to feel a little more at ease now. She was a little odd compared to other girls, but it wasn't in a bad way.

"Sounds like a plan, my man," she said laughing

"So what about you? Ya know 's the newbie's job ta spill their guts ta ev'ryone."

"Really? Since when?"

"As of…" he said glancing down at his watch and paused a few seconds. "…now."

She laughed but started talking anyway. "Well, you already know that I like sports-a lot. When I'm hanging out with my friends, we usually go bowling or see a movie, go swimming, horseback riding, whatever. Once we went cow tipping out of pure boredom. Of course they were Mark's own cows. Um, what else? I was working in an ice cream parlor before coming here. That's why I didn't appreciate Miss Prissy Pants over there. I like to play guitar." She paused for a moment thinking and then continued. "Then there was the normal array of high school clubs: student council, student government, school paper, etcetera, etcetera."

"That's a lot," Sam breathed.

"It gets boring in a small town and everyone thinks it's sooo wonderful when they look at it from the outside. There was a time we had tourists pull up to our softball game and ask us where they could find an Amish farm. They had a tour book and everything. It was down right creepy," she said with a shudder. "So are they planning to do any of these li'l trips you mentioned anytime soon?"

"We'll probably do somethin' this weekend," Sam said with a shrug. "Most likely the beach."

"Sounds like it'd be a good time for you to make your move," Allison said with a wink.

Sam turned a shade of pink and Allison laughed lightly as she drank from her smoothie. "Ah think that was a shot," he accused.

"Nah...just a free piece of advice from your shrink."


	7. A Day at the Pool

**Authors Note: **I apologize for taking so long to update. I've been working really hard on my other ROMY story "New Beginnings" which hit a bit of a wall for a really difficult action sequence that needed a lot of work. Because Allison's story takes place after all of my other Romy stories, I'm also trying to give them a little more time so that I don't reach a point in this story in which my AU falls apart because I say something here that I then change over there. Anyway, I hope you enjoy.**  
><strong>

**FYI:**  
>I do not own the X-Men, but I do own Allison and all of her complexities. I quite like her complexities.<p>

**Chapter 7: A Day at the Pool  
><strong>

Allison sat on her bed with her laptop and enjoying the breeze that blew through their balcony doors and ruffled the curtains. She was instant messaging with her friends from back home and attempting to make her life at the institute sound rather normal instead of describing the training sessions and mutant ball games. She found herself smirking though as she imagined what it'd be like if Sam really could use his powers at the football tryouts. They'd be crazy not to have him as a running back then. But even without his powers, he was fast.

_DragonPride37: So whats it like?  
>Kicks87: not bad...found ur twin<em>  
><em>DragonPride37: o?<em>  
><em>Kicks87: name's Sam and ur both wrecks around gurls<em>  
><em>DragonPride37: not true<em>  
><em>DragonPride37: im cool round u<em>  
><em>Kicks87: thats cuz im like a guy<em>  
><em>DragonPride37: first guy ive met with boobs then ;P<em>  
><em>Kicks87: shut up<em>

Allison sat back against her pillows and huffed. She still couldn't figure Mark out. He'd kissed her and now he was acting like nothing was different. Granted, she was guilty of doing the same. So maybe she was just as much of a wreck around guys as he was around girls.

_DragonPride37: sounds like ur makin friends  
>Kicks87: yeah<br>Kicks87: its not like home tho  
>DragonPride37: its not home here wo u either tho_

Allison hesitated before shooting back her response. She reread their conversation and realized that he was actually trying to be meaningful. She was the one trying to dodge things. _Shit..._

_Kicks87: Suck up  
>Kicks87: How's FB?<br>DragonPride37:FB is FB  
>DragonPride37: the new kicker sux<br>DragonPride37: u trying out up there?  
>Kicks87: uh huh<br>Kicks87: tryouts are fri  
>DragonPride37: gl<br>Kicks87: dont need it  
>DragonPride37: got plans this weekend?<br>Kicks87: possibly the beach  
>Kicks87: U?<br>DragonPride37: nuthin  
>DragonPride37: wow...the beach huh?<br>DragonPride37: u havent been 2 the beach since you were a kid_

Allison's hands slipped from the keyboard as she chewed on her lower lip. It was true. It'd been almost six years exactly since she'd been to any beach. Prior to that, it would be at least twice a summer that she'd go fishing with her father._  
><em>

_DragonPride37: u still there?_  
><em>Kicks87: yep<br>DragonPride37: sorry  
>Kicks87: for?<br>DragonPride37: 4 bringing up ur dad  
>DragonPride37: i know thats a sore subject<br>DragonPride37: sorry  
>Kicks87: u can stop apologizing<br>Kicks87: its ok_

Allison was incredibly grateful that he couldn't actually see her. It made lying a little easier. It really wasn't okay. She roughly wiped at her eyes as the door to her bedroom opened and Betsy came in wearing a dark purple bikini. She was digging through her dresser and glanced back over her shoulder to see Allison. "Hey, Luv."

"Hey. Going some place?"

"Down to the pool," she said tossing aside a cover up with disgust before digging in again. "You coming? It's bloody hot today." She settled on a pink sarong that she quickly tied around her waist before grabbing a towel to throw around her shoulders.

"Sure, why not?" Allison said smiling. She needed a distraction and the timing couldn't have been better.

_Kicks87: hey, g2g  
>Kicks87: ttyl<br>DragonPride37: k  
>DragonPride37: byes<br>_

Allison closed her laptop as Betsy disappeared back out the door again. She got up and dug through her dresser until she'd located her favorite swim suit and quickly changed. She grabbed a t-shirt to throw on over top and ducked into the bathroom for a towel. By the time she was halfway down the hallway she'd already forgotten to be upset about her father.

* * *

><p>The boys were all standing around the far end of the pool by the diving board trying to decide who amongst them would be the reigning cannonball champion. There were far too many of the girls attempting to float peacefully on rafts to let the opportunity slide by.<p>

"I'm telling you, that you don't stand a chance in a cannonball contest with me," Bobby said crossing his arms over his chest.

"Bobby, mah name _is _'Cannonball'!" Sam replied rolling his eyes.

"He's got you there, Icepick," Ray snickered and Bobby shot them both a glare for bringing up such logic.

"We'll let Jubes judge," Bobby suggested feeling certain that Jubilee would back him up. She'd finally come around to him a little more.

"That's not fair. You two are practically dating," Roberto argued. "What about Amara?"

"No," Ray said shaking his head. "The two of you used to date."

"Well, then who do you think will be fair?" Roberto asked resting his hands on his hips.

Both Bobby and Ray quickly scanned the girls who were still around the pool area and Bobby grinned. "Kitty!" But none of the other guys even seemed to hear him. He looked at his friends and then back towards the rest of the students and still couldn't see what was capturing their attention so fully. "What?"

"The new girl," Ray said practically drooling.

"I don't think she likes me," Bobby muttered as he turned to look. Near the shallow end where most of the students were reclined on chairs or drinking lemonade under picnic umbrellas, Allison was setting her stuff down on a chair near Betsy's. She was in the middle of removing a t-shirt to reveal her electric blue tankini top and matching boycut shorts. Both had black lines that drew all of the boys' eyes to her accentuated curves.

Bobby turned his head away and could see that his friends still had not. "What gives?"

"She's hot, man. That's what," Ray said finally coming back down to earth.

Roberto shot him a grin and nodded in agreement. "You have to agree."

"I dunno. She's not that cute. And besides, it looks like she's showing off," he said glancing back over his shoulder again. Allison was now resting her hands easily on her hips while she stood over Betsy talking. "Right, Sam?" For once, Sam was not immediately in agreement with his best friend. Instead he was still watching as if his eyes had been glued to her. "Earth to Sammy?" he said nudging him in the ribs.

"What?" he asked blinking as he turned to look at Bobby.

"Isn't Al hot?" Ray asked grinning slyly and Sam just shrugged making Ray and Roberto roll their eyes at his denial.

Bobby just grumbled under his breath at his friends. "So are we doing this contest or what?"

But Ray and Roberto were now far more interested in giving Sam a hard time. "Come on, you can't tell me you don't think she's good looking," Roberto urged.

"She's okay," Sam admitted giving the girl in question another glance as Allison was now walking along the edge of the pool and paused to talk to Kitty. He looked back to his friends with another feeble shrug.

"Forget it Ray, Sam doesn't think any girl is cute," Bobby said getting annoyed by the ongoing conversation. He didn't like not being able to contribute. But right after the first training session with the new girl, he'd immediately forced himself to not even consider Allison as an option. There was no point if you couldn't touch a girl without knocking her unconscious. He'd done the same thing when he'd met Rogue too. It wasn't that he didn't like her, he just didn't see any use in getting overly friendly. And there was especially no use in ogling what you couldn't touch.

"Icepick, Kitty's the cute type. Al…she's the hot kind. Tall and filled out in all the right places if you know what I mean," Ray said waggling his eyebrows.

"Do ya have ta talk 'bout the girls like they're pieces of meat?" Sam looked indignantly at Ray who ignored him. "And Ah do think some girls are cute."

"Oh, who then?" Bobby asked glad to see that Sam might actually be cracking a little. Perhaps this could be a little fun. He'd certainly not been able to work the Betsy angle ever since the Brit had started dating Warren.

"Well…um…" He stammered slightly as he was backed up against the metaphorical wall.

Bobby just rolled his eyes and then winked. "Watch this guys," he said over his shoulder as he walked towards Kitty and Allison. He smirked as he contemplated his plan of how to make Allison fall into the pool. That's when they'd find out just how much of a girly-girl she was or wasn't.

"Ya can't do that! You'll freeze her," Sam called out as he knew the kind of antics Bobby usually got up to.

"You're like actually going to swim?" Kitty asked as she trailed her fingers across the surface of the water. That was about as close to getting into the pool as she planned to get today.

"Duh, that's what you do in a pool," Allison replied shrugging her shoulders.

"But then your suit and hair will like get all yucky from the chlorine." Kitty looked and sounded truly concerned and Allison bit back on her tongue not to laugh at her new friend.

Just as Bobby started to get close and was going to ice the edge of the pool for Allison to slip on, she quickly waved her hand causing a large wave of water to leave the pool and hit Bobby directly in the face. He sputtered for a moment, wiping his hand down over his face as Allison turned and grinned at him. "Don't even think about it, Icy." She smiled prettily before turning and dove backwards off the edge of the pool into the water. Her entrance was so smooth that even though she hit the water less than foot away from Kitty, there wasn't the slightest splash.

The rest of the boys were all busting up laughing as Allison resurfaced again and Bobby looked more than a little flustered. This new girl was turning out to be nothing but problems for him. Allison leaned against the side of the pool and smiled up at Bobby. "Sorry, but I wasn't going to take any chances of you freezing me too," she said. "Friends?" she asked holding up one hand for him to shake and Bobby contemplated it for a moment before reaching to shake it. She yanked it back just in time and laughed. "You might be a little dense, but I do like you," she said winking.

There was a fresh burst of laughter from the other three boys at Bobby's second mistake and Bobby could only shake his head. "You win," he admitted. "Friends."

Allison glanced down to the other group of boys and smiled as Sam shot her a thumbs up. Meanwhile Ray looked like he was suffering from an appendix that might burst as he clutched his stomach trying to control his laughter. It was hard not to notice just how ripped every guy at the school was. Granted, she'd gotten a pretty good idea of that from trainings. But now that they were all in swim trunks it was even more obvious. And what was more impressive to her was that they were all juniors and sophomores. Yet they could all probably give most Abercrombie models a run for their money.

Allison's attention was drawn away as she watched two of the younger students chase a brown wolf-like dog around the pool. The dog had a towel in its mouth and was running at practically break neck speed. Meanwhile, Jamie and Sarah chased it between chairs and tables trying to keep up. "Rhane! Give me back my towel!" Sarah cried out laughing.

"I'll get it!" Jamie shouted as he quickly multiplied to surround Rhane. She then morphed back into her human form laughing as she held out the towel in defeat. She returned to the table with the other girls and quickly rearranged her red hair into two short pigtails and adjusted her Hawaiian floral print one-piece swim suit.

Allison's attention was drawn away from the younger students as she turned to watch Bobby try to coerce Kitty into being their judge. "Please, Kitty. We just want you to tell us who has the biggest splash."

"Like there's no way I'm letting you splash me," Kitty said sitting up a little on her raft to lean back on her elbows.

"You won't get splashed," Bobby promised giving her his best puppy dog eyes.

"Yeah, right. Like I'm not that stupid. I know how you guys are." She gently paddled herself over to the edge of the pull and pulled herself up onto dry land. She brushed past Bobby on her way to the lounge table where Piotr and Betsy were sipping lemonades. Kitty promptly sat down on Piotr's lap and crossed her arms over her chest refusing to look at Bobby.

"Please?" he begged. "You can watch from right here."

"Ask one of the other girls," Kitty said reaching for the pitcher of lemonade.

"The guys think it's fixed though if I ask Amara or Jubes."

"Like what's wrong with Allison?"

"She's going to favor Sam in a heartbeat," Bobby moaned. "Come on, Kitty."

Allison let herself drift away and back under the water at Bobby's last statement. Everyone seemed to be under the impression that there was something more between herself and Sam but there just wasn't, was there? She hadn't even known him yet for a week. And she didn't know the rest of them any better yet either. So how could they possibly know who she liked?

She swam into the deep end letting the cool water rush over her. She had always loved to swim ever since she'd been a little girl. Unfortunately, back home not many people owned a swimming pool and all of the lakes and ponds were such that you didn't want to stick a toe in, let alone your whole body.

She surfaced near the ladder and slicked back her hair before climbing the ladder. Bobby had given up on Kitty and the boys were back to arguing over how to hold their contest sans judge. She just shook her head in amusement as she made her way back to where she'd left her towel on a lounge chair and wrapped it around her waist before starting across the lawn to the kitchen.

"Hey, wait up." Allison turned to see Sam jogging to catch up with her and she paused. "They can't make up their minds an' Ah'm gettin' tired of waitin'."

"Well, I'm glad to be your back up plan," Allison replied grinning. Sam frowned in confusion and Allison laughed as she wrapped an arm around his bare shoulders. "It's cool. I was gonna see if they have enough sugar in this joint to make a decent pitcher of sweet tea."

Sam raised an eyebrow and then broke out into a grin. "That sounds like a far better plan than anythin' the other guys have cooked up."

Sam dug through the cabinets until he'd found a pantry while Allison pulled together any bags of sugar she could locate in the pantry. Kitty was already in the kitchen and refilling the pitcher of lemonade for outside and smirked as she watched the two of them together. "I think it's like totally cool how well you two get along already."

"Why?" Allison said standing back up straight again with her arms filled with sweet tea supplies.

Sam shot Kitty a stink eye from behind Allison's back for good measure too before he turned on the tap and began to fill the pitcher with water and ice. But it apparently had no effect whatsoever on Kitty. "Well, Sam's usually really girl shy. So it's cute to see him flirt for once."

Sam stiffened and dropped the pitcher which bounced off the tile floor, meanwhile the water and ice hung in mid air. Allison waited until Sam had recovered and picked up the pitcher again before she waved her hand through the air and the liquid dropped back into its container again. "Watch it there," she said laughing.

"That was awesome," Kitty gushed. "I can't believe you have that much control already."

Sam sighed a little in relief that the subject had changed and Allison just shrugged. Sam just stood back and let Allison take over the prep figuring that too many more comments from Kitty and he'd be dropping a whole lot more than a pitcher by the time it was all said and done. They watched as Allison put three mounded scoops of sugar into the pitcher and stirred before adding another three. She stirred a while longer and frowned at the brown mixture in front of her. Finally she picked up the bag of sugar and upended it into the pitcher.

"Got enough sugar in that?" Kitty asked as she leaned on the counter to watch as the sugar dissolved.

"I hope so," Allison said as she poured out a glass for herself. "There wasn't very much left." She took a sip and smiled before handing the glass to Sam. "What do ya think?" she asked.

Sam drank and grinned. "That's about right," he said setting the glass down.

"It's such a good thing you aren't Pietro or else you'd be like up the walls by now," Kitty commented as she watched Allison finish off the glass.

"Who's Pietro?" she asked.

"One of the Brotherhood," Sam said. "They're our mortal enemies fo' one, second they're total jerks…"

"And third, they're like totally annoying. Especially Pietro. He thinks just because he's super fast that he's totally the best too." Kitty rolled her eyes to emphasize her dislike for the boy and Sam nodded.

"Oh, okay. So where are they hanging out? Some secret lair?" Allison asked waggling her fingers as she made a spooky 'ooo' face.

"Nope, a boarding house down town where their leader, Mystique puts them up," Kitty said thumbing in the general direction of Bayville.

"Seriously?" Allison said trying not to laugh. When both Sam and Kitty nodded she just shook her head in disbelief. "Alright, Mystique and Brotherhood—baddies. Got it."

"Oh like it's not just them. There's Magneto and Apocalypse too."

"Okay. So what happened to all of these people as children to make them so evil and hate the world?"

Sam looked thoughtful for a moment as he hopped up onto the counter. "Well, we haven' a clue 'bout Mystique ta be honest. Apocalypse was the first mutant on the planet an' he wants ta make ev'ryone on the planet a mutant too. Magneto grew up durin' World War II and was in a concentration camp."

"Ouch," Allison breathed letting that information sink in. "Well, lucky us. We ended up turning into mutants simply because of our raging hormones." She leaned back against the counter while Kitty helped herself to a glass.

"Hey, this is good. Where'd you learn to make sweet tea like this?"

"My dad," Allison said bluntly as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Unfortunately for her, she'd done too good of a job coaching Sam in how to keep a conversation going. "You haven't talked much about your family. What are they like?"

"Yeah, come on and spill already. Do you have a cute brother or something?" Kitty asked grinning.

"I though you were dating Piotr?" Allison replied raising her eyebrows at Kitty's eagerness.

"Well, I can ask can't I?" Kitty gave her a pout and Allison caved in.

Allison sighed as she considered where to start. "It'd take me a week to tell you about my whole family, so I'll just give you the cliffnotes version. Where I come from everyone's cousins and second cousins and twice removed and so forth so it gets really confusing. For the most part it's just my mom, my gram, my Aunt Vicky and her two children."

"You just mentioned your dad though," Sam said taking a sip of his drink but he didn't miss the flash of bright blue that passed through Allison's eyes before the returned to their usual shade of silvery green.

"I haven't seen him since I was eleven. Didn't bother to call me on my twelfth birthday and haven't heard from him since."

"Oh." Kitty's voice was as tiny as a mouse as she began to study her iced tea closely.

"When I was little, I used to visit a lot. He'd take me fishing and even taught me to ride a motorcycle. He said that when I got older, he'd buy me my first bike and teach me how to maintain it..." she trailed off and Sam watched as her eyes shifted to a pale gray as Allison set her unfinished glass of tea down. "Excuse me," she said before practically running out of the room.

Kitty and Sam exchanged look of confusion. "Was it something I said?" she asked.

"Actually, Ah think it was somethin' she said."

* * *

><p>Allison laid across her bed kicking herself for ruining a perfectly good afternoon. She hated how she could go through vast periods of time without ever thinking about her father and then all of sudden he would seem to pop up on her mind every ten minutes. She palmed away the tears from her eyes and forced herself to sit up straight as she crossed her legs under her. She took a couple of deep breaths and managed to get her breath to stop hiccuping in her throat.<p>

When a knock on the door forced her to stop her self pity she closed her eyes and cleared her throat. "Come in," she said standing up from the bed. She crossed the room towards her bookshelf and started trying to locate the album that held pictures of her friends from back home.

Sam stuck his head in through the door and gave her a slightly worried and puzzled look. "Ah jus' wanted ta check on ya. Um...if ya want, Ah'll come back another time." A part of him wanted to add on to the end 'or not at all' but somehow he managed to stifle the insecure voice.

"No, it's okay," Allison replied again wiping at her cheeks to try and remove any lingering trails from her brief cry. "I probably look like shit," she said sniffing.

"No, the other girls would look worse," Sam said trying to be comforting as he stepped inside the room. "Ya know with mascara runnin' an' all that."

He crossed the room to sit down on the green unused bed and Allison looked up at him and gave him a wry smile. She appreciated his effort at humor. "You know just how to make a girl feel better."

"Ev'ryone's always sayin' that if somethin' hurts ta jus' talk 'bout it. Personally Ah think's a load of bull, but if ya…" He looked up from his wringing hands to Allison as she sat back down on her own bed cross-legged, the album lying unopened on her knee.

"You probably could care less," she said taking a deep breath and he shook his head emphatically in the negative. Allison sighed running a hand over her wet hair. She knew that eventually someone would drag it out of her, so she might as well take control of the situation and tell it while she was already in a bummed mood. "My parents divorced when I was really little because my father was a drunk and my mom didn't want him to be around me all the time like that. It was the average divorce, my mom got me and my dad got a new wife," she said with a shrug and then laughed lightly as if she'd made a joke. "I got to visit my dad three or four times a year and had to put up with a step mother who hated me just for existing and two step brothers who were jealous of my father's attention. Apparently he wasn't much of a superstar father to them either but he made an effort when I was around."

She let her gaze fall down to the album in her lap and flipped it open to look at the first picture inside. It portrayed her and Mark both on horseback while Kelly stood in between holding their reigns. Looking at the happy memory helped a little and she managed a weak smile. "Eventually my mom wanted to move back to her home town to be near my gram after my pappy died. After that my dad stopped calling and even stopped seeing me. It's stupid really, but it's basic 'daddy issues'."

"'S not stupid. It sucks an' yo' father doesn' know what he missed out on." He'd stood up and was now standing just a little in front of her as Allison looked up.

"Thanks for letting me get that off my chest," Allison said forcing another weak smile. "But I should probably pull my act together or I'll be repeating this whole conversation with Betsy when she gets back. And I'd kinda rather not."

Sam nodded in understand as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "Ah understand. Mah daddy died when Ah was eleven. Ah used ta be really mad at him for abandoning mah mom and our family. You can always come talk ta meh...anytime."

Allison nodded and smiled a little more genuinely as Sam turned and left the room.


	8. I Just Want You To Know Who I Am

****FYI:**  
><strong>I do not own the X-Men. I do own Allison. Wee!

**Chapter 8: I Just Want You to Know Who I Am  
><strong>

Allison stood on the sidelines of the football field and scowled as she watched approximately fifty guys run plays and essentially try to kick each others asses in order to prove their worth to the coach. However, the coach did not seem anywhere near anxious to see if a girl stood a chance against any of his guys. Allison watched as the returning lettermen were set up to beat on the juniors like Sam who were trying out for the team in order to make the jump to varsity.

Sam was surprisingly fast on his feet, dodging just about every attempt by anyone to tackle him. She smirked realizing that the coach would need an extraordinarily good reason to keep Sam off the team at this rate.

"You girl, what were you trying out for again?" Allison pretended not to hear the coach until he changed his tone. There was one thing she'd learned thus far about football, and that was not to let the coach think he could walk all over you. "I'm talking to you, Williams."

"Oh, li'l ol' me?" she asked sweetly applying a pasty smile onto her face. He frowned at her attitude but Allison was already bored out of her skull after an hour and a half of doing nothing. She walked over to him and said as gruffly as she could manage, "Kicker, sir."

"Have you ever played football before?" he asked looking her from top to bottom and then back up to top again. He was weighing out her odds of surviving a tackle.

Allison refrained herself from rolling her eyes as part of her response. "Yes, sir. I played for the Central High team in the Pennsylvania state playoffs."

"So you're that Williams," he said glancing down at his clipboard so that she couldn't see that he was actually interested. "Well, let's see if you're half as good as the media has touted you are." He turned away from her to and addressed the other players on the field. "Get ready for a field goal on the forty yard line." Allison just gulped as he turned to look back at her. "Something wrong, Williams?"

"No, sir," she answered pulling her helmet on before jogging out onto the field and prepared for the play. She took a few practice kicks to stretch out her legs, grabbing her calf as she held her foot by her head. Out of the corner of her eye, she could make out the coach advising the defensive line.

The defensive line then filed back out on the field and the play began as the ball was flicked back and set up for her by the quarter back. She charged forward and sent the ball flying more than the necessary sixty yards to clear the field goal post. But before she could celebrate that the ball had not hooked on her, she was face down in the dirt.

She groaned as the weight of a two hundred and fifty pound line backer lifted off of her and she could hear snickering from the older players. There were a few hushed voices expressing some concerns, but not many as she pushed herself back up. She grimaced slightly at the pain in her back but focused instead on removing the clods of dirt from her helmet as she pulled it free. She looked up to see that the football was now sticking out of the scoreboard and a few of the guys were pointing in astonishment.

She kept slapping the side of the helmet and more dirt kept falling out as Sam jogged over to her. "That was amazing, Al," he said with his brows lifted.

"I got lucky," she admitted. "It should have hooked." She looked back up at him to see that he was still grinning and shaking his head in disbelief at her humility.

"Whatever, the coach'll be nuts if he doesn' have ya startin'."

Allison's attention waned as she noticed that the linebacker who'd tackled her was now getting ribbed by several of the other players for his failure to decommission a girl. Some of them were watching her with a kind of awe that was typically reserved for freak shows. She missed home. At least there the guys respected her instead of gawked at her. "You've been doing pretty hot…I mean good, too." He shrugged noncommittally, somehow missing her Freudian slip.

The coach waved them all in towards the sidelines and instinctively, they all took a knee. "I'll have the spots posted Wednesday next to the gym. The first practice will be Thursday at one o'clock. Jersey's go in the laundry cart. Empty cups in the trash. Now get outta here."

Allison and Sam walked to the laundry cart and shed the jerseys they'd been lent to wear for the tryouts and as they walked back to the parking lot, she shook her hair free of the scrunchi it'd been held up in. "Well, that could have been worse," she said pausing near the bleachers in order to remove the cumbersome protective gear. She unlaced her shoulder pads and worked it loose to reveal that she was wearing a wife beater underneath. A couple of the guys stopped to watch and she shot them a glare. She threw the rest of her gear into a bag and pulled the straps up through the center of the shoulder pads to carry. She waited for Sam to finish with his gear and jingled her truck keys in her hand.

Sam shifted the gear up over his shoulder and followed Allison's gaze to the other guys. "Ignore 'em," he said. "Trust meh, if they are starin' at you, 's 'cause of meh."

Allison just blinked at him and they walked back to the parking lot. "What do you mean?"

"They all know Ah'm a mutant. They're probably tryin' ta figure out why you don'," he said shrugging as he lifted his gear bag up into the bed of the truck.

"Ah," she said simply as she dropped the tailgate of the truck and hopped up to sit. Sam leaned back against the tailgate before pushing himself up to sit next to her. "Well, I think we stand a pretty good shot of making the team. Mutants or not," she said with a wink.

"You definitely do," Sam agreed untying his cleats before tossing them into his bag.

"Yeah, well, you should have seen yourself out there running plays. You made the senior linebackers look stupid for diving at air," she chuckled. She hesitated for a moment and glanced at him. "And you did that because you're awesome at this game. Not because you're a mutant. Don't let those guys convince you otherwise."

Sam shook his head and laughed lightly. "Ah don' let 'em bother meh. Ah'm more worried 'bout you," he said gazing at her with a grim smile. "Don' tell 'em, 'less ya have ta. Some of 'em might figure it out on their own, but make 'em work it out fo' themselves."

Allison chewed on her lower lip as she lowered her gaze to focus on untying her cleat. "Thanks," she said. "But if they can't like me because I'm a mutant or because I'm friends with one, well, they're probably not worth it. None of them could possibly be as cool as you anyway."

They hopped back down after putting on sandals and Allison started up the truck engine. At first, static spat out angrily before she managed to set up the portable CD player again. "Still haven' fixed the radio yet?" he asked and she shook her head as she shifted the truck into drive and pulled away. "Ya could always get Logan ta do it, or even Scott," he suggested as Johnny Rzeznik began to croon _Iris_.

She furrowed her brows when she looked back up at him and gently tapped his head. "How hard did you get hit in there?"

"Not that hard. Why?" he asked and she smirked at his confusion.

"Well, for some reason you seem to think I'd ask someone for help on something I'm capable of doing myself."

"Stupid meh," Sam sighed as he leaned back in his seat and waited to get back to the institute.

Unsettled by his sudden dip into silence, Allison cast him a few sideways glances before asking, "Is that beach trip still happening this weekend? 'Cause I haven't heard anything."

"Sure, Ah guess so. Don' worry, nobody tells meh much either. Besides, at the institute, everythin' just kinda happens an' ya have ta jus' go with the flow."

"Sounds like my way of being," she replied grinning and Sam smiled in return. She winked at him before punching him in the arm. "Cheer up. You're about to be a letterman."

* * *

><p>Allison sat on the banister watching as the rain came down. Football practice had been canceled for the day due to the rough weather and the coach's decision was reinforced as a streak of lightening zig zagged across the sky. They heavy drops plopped down on her head and soaked into her clothes until they clung to her body.<p>

Both she and Sam had made the team and it had been entirely worth the trip on Wednesday just to watch the smile creep up and take over his face when he'd found his name on the list. Allison smiled at the memory now and closed her eyes as another streak of lightening tore the sky in half.

She was surprised when someone perched themselves on the railing beside her and she cast a sideways glance to see that it was Sam. "Ya must like the rain," he commented his gaze falling on the distant streaks of lightening. He then turned to look at her and smiled.

She watched as his denim jacket darkened in splotches and she reached over and snapped her fingers near his shoulder. He started for a moment before looking up to see that the rain was no longer falling on him but was rather bending away from him. "There's something calming about it," Allison said. "I can hear myself think out here," she said turning her face up towards the falling drops.

After a few moments, she blinked and turned to look back at him to see that he was reaching out trying to touch the drops of rain but Allison waved her hand and playfully bent the rain further away from him. He grinned at her game as he spoke. "Thanks."

"You're welcome."

"So what'd ya come out here ta think about?" he asked resting his hands on the railing as he gave up the game. Now that he was being kept dry, he looked a little more at peace.

"I was wondering if I had it in me to fight. I heard some of the others talking about Apocalypse and I remembered that from the news. I was scared to death and it was happening thousands of miles away." She looked up at him and he met her gaze evenly noting the steel green of her eyes. Her eyes always darkened a few shades when she was being serious. "At the time I didn't even know what it meant and now that I do, I think I'd be even less likely to find the courage to do something."

"That was probably the most scared Ah've ever been in mah life," Sam admitted looking down at his hand that was in between them. Hers was so close and he contemplated shifting so that his hand would be over hers. That was the right thing to do, right? To comfort her? Instead, he chewed his lower lip thoughtfully before continuing. "Not even when mah daddy had died was Ah that scared an' worried fo' mah family. Ah think it took bein' that scared though. Does that make sense?" He looked back up to her silvery green eyes and was surprised when she reached over and grabbed his hand. He squeezed it back but did not tear his gaze away from her face.

"So do you mind if I ask what your part was in all of that?" she asked. She brushed her slicked hair back from her face and their eye contact was broken as she looked down. She gently rotated his hand over and traced the lines on his palm and glanced up at him through her eyelashes when he didn't answer her right away.

He flushed realizing that he'd been staring but still couldn't bring himself to look away as he watched the beads of water form on her eyelashes and nose. He coughed clearing his throat. "It was almost entirely Rogue," he clarified, "but Ah was with S.H.I.E.L.D. for the direct attack on Apocalypse. Ah jus' carried her from the chopper to the pyramid. Ya see there's a mutant named Leech and he has the ability ta negate powers of all kinds. So Rogue borrowed his ability in order ta fight Apocalypse. Ah was jus' her ride."

Allison squeezed his hand before releasing it and smiled softly. "You're very brave, Sam. I just hope that I'm half as brave when fate decides that it's my turn."

* * *

><p>"They're like totally cute together," Kitty commented to Betsy as she leaned on the kitchen counter watching Allison and Sam sitting at the far end of the dining room table. Their heads were bent over an sports magazine as they talked, occasionally laughing at some inside joke. "Don't you think?" Kitty asked looking back to the purple haired girl.<p>

"Right..." Betsy said slowly and drawn out.

"Come on, you're her roommate. You can't tell me that she hasn't mentioned him or like something. Maybe a few private thoughts?" Kitty looked excited hoping to draw out some kind of juicy information from the psychic but Betsy stonewalled her.

"Other than saying she was giving him rides to and from practices, nope, nada, nothing." Betsy looked away from Kitty and back towards the couple reading their magazine. She sighed herself as it was difficult to not pick up on Sam's thoughts. He was constantly at war with himself and the longer it went on, the louder it got and the harder for her to ignore.

"Ugh," kitty groaned as she buried her head into her hands. "She's like the most confident girl I've ever met, and yet she has _no_ clue when a guy is digging her. I don't even think she knows how to flirt. We're totally going to have to work on her."

"Can't you just let someone be?" Betsy asked raising an eyebrow as she turned away to look in the fridge for something to drink.

"Like no way. Hooking people up is way more fun than watching them avoid the topic," Kitty said draining her glass before walking over to the table and leaning over Allison's shoulder to peer at the magazine. "So what are you reading?"

"Sports Illustrated," the answered simultaneously causing Allison to laugh.

"Jinx," she said poking Sam in the shoulder still grinning broadly. Sam just grumbled something under his breath and flipped the page. "You owe me a soda."

"Right, fine, whatever," he replied hesitating before flipping the page again to skip a spread of ads.

"That is like really cute how you two answered at the same time," Kitty said dropping into a chair next to Allison and it caused both of the other teens to tear their attention away from the magazine to glare at her. "What, can I help it that you two make such a cute couple?"

Allison hastily stood up and moved to the counter for a glass of water. "Betsy, how much sugar has she had today?"

"Quite a bloody lot actually," Betsy said sipping her drink as she leaned back against the counter.

"That's like not true. I only had a glass of that tea in there," Kitty argued.

Sam and Allison exchanged looks before both of them started to laugh. "Kitty, that's sweet tea. Al's been keepin' a pitcher on hand all week," Sam explained patting the girl on the shoulder as he shook his head still laughing. "Yo' probably gonna crash in an hour if ya ain't used to it."

"Oh," she said a little surprised. "I thought it tasted a little funny."

"You just don't know what the good stuff is," Allison said sitting back down again at the table but this time she shifted her chair so that they were no longer sitting shoulder to shoulder. Kitty pouted a little seeing the backwards step that had been made after her attempts to do the opposite.

Bamf! The three of them waved their hands in front of their noses as Kurt appeared on top of the dining room table. "Are you guys going to the beach or what?" he asked. He was wearing a pair of board shorts and a collared shirt with a bucket cap and sunglasses as he tapped at his holographic watch. For a moment he looked normal before returning to his blue, fuzzy self. Giving up on the holograph he gave them all an expectant look.

Kitty stood up quickly and phased through the table and Kurt as she dashed out of the room. "I like totally forgot!" she wailed.

As Kurt teleported away again, Betsy finished her drink and set the glass into the sink. "Come on, Luv, we better get moving too. Their not the world's most patient group."

Allison pinched her nose from the sulfur fumes and nodded. "Gladly." They were halfway up the main staircase when she spoke again without sounding nasally. "Why is Kitty so insistent that there's something between Sam and I? I hardly know him."

"That's just Kitty," Betsy said with a shrug. "She like to play matchmaker so watch out." She pushed their bedroom door open and waved Allison in ahead of her.

"Thanks for the warning," Allison sighed as she began to dig through her dresser to find appropriate clothes. She grabbed her blue swimsuit and found a pair of denim shorts and baggy tee to wear for her cover up. Glancing over she saw that Betsy was putting on a revealing purple bikini and a belted tunic of gauzy, see through material.

She didn't give herself time to question her choice of apparel though as she grabbed her sunglasses and truck keys from the top of the dresser and they both jogged back down to the garage to meet the others.

Kurt had a boogie board in hand and was probably the most anxious looking to leave as he teleported himself into the backseat of Scott's convertible. However, Scott did not look anywhere near ready to start the engine yet as he surveyed the vehicles in the garage. He glanced back at the large group of seventeen and did the math once more. "There's only enough room in my car and the Hummer for ten."

"I could take my truck," Allison offered and instantly the entire group lit up with smiles except for Scott who still looked confused.

"But that only seats two more." That earned Scott at least a half dozen rolled eyes as people started to pile surf boards, umbrellas, and bodies into the bed of the truck.

Allison just shot him a grin as she climbed in behind the wheel and Kitty and Betsy squeezed onto the bench seat beside her. "See ya there!" she said waving as the truck pulled out with at least six people in the bed of the truck all seated with their knees tucked up to their chins as they clowned around.

Scott was about to protest and say something to Kurt when Kurt teleported himself and his boogie board into the bed of the truck as well. "But if something happens..." he started to say but nobody heard him as the remaining students grumbled about who would ride with Scott and who would ride with Jean in the Hummer. Jean just patted Scott on the shoulder and smiled.


	9. In Need of a Hero

**Authors Note:  
>To Cheyy:<strong> You must have really liked the last chapter. Wow...lol  
><strong>To Silverstarsofquebec:<strong> I'm more than happy to address the lack of Sam-lovin'. Considering that Sam is an incredibly powerful mutant, *coughs* External *coughs*, and the future leader of the New Mutants I don't know why he doesn't get more loving. Especially when Dani was tossed into the series towards the end. There's so much stuff you can make happen just between Dani and Sam that it's ridiculous. Hmm...perhaps I should address that too. It's not a story about Sam if he doesn't end up getting slugged by Dani at some point.

**FYI:**

I do not own the X-Men. I do own Allison and the rights to do some incredibly horrible things to her at at times. Buah haha!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 9: In Need Of A Hero<strong>

Allison spent the afternoon learning to surf and found that she was actually pretty decent at it considering that she'd never tried anything like it before. Granted, the waves at the bay were pretty calm and were barely enough to carry a surfer in to shore. Still, most of the guys could not be dissuaded from at least a few runs while the girls scoffed them and laid on the shore and tanned. Eventually, a game of beach volleyball was picked up and some of the guys drifted away to join the game since a few of the bikini clad girls were actively diving and chasing the ball.

Although the afternoon was starting to get late, she didn't feel ready to give up this new found sport as Allison took her surfboard back out into the water again. After a while of paddling, she heard laughter behind her and turned to see that Sam and Bobby were following her out. The caught up to her and they waited in the water that was becoming a little more choppy for a decent wave to come in.

Allison took her board back out on the water, and it wasn't until she was a couple dozen yards from shore that she heard laughter behind her. She glanced back to see Sam and Bobby following her out for one last wave themselves and she slowed down until they'd caught up. Together they finished paddling out and waited for the perfect wave. Allison laid on her back, gazing up at the clouds as she sighed contentedly. "This has been the most absolute perfect afternoon."

"This is nothing," Bobby said. "Living at the institute is like staying at summer camp year round. We're always doing something."

"Logan's even promised ta take us camping sometime this fall. Granted, Ah don' know if Ah should be scared or not of bein' left alone in the woods with him."

Bobby and Allison laughed at Sam's joke and then straightened up as they became aware of a wave coming in. The trio rode the wave in to shore but instead of coming back to the beach where everyone was playing volleyball, they were taken into a nearby rocky cove. They picked their way over the algae covered rocks and slowly made their way back to their group. Allison paused as she studied the cliff that rose up over them. The rock face was relatively sheer, much like the rest of the beach front in and around the Bayville area. But as her eyes traveled over the granite, she spotted a cave cut into the base of the cliff. "Hey check it out," she said pointing as she climbed down over the rocks onto sand and crossed towards the opening.

Bobby raced ahead, planting his board easily into the sand and disappeared into the dark opening as Allison and Sam propped their boards up against the cliff and followed him inside. "Ah didn' even know there were caves out here," Sam commented as he followed Bobby up onto a flat, solid rock ledge that was several feet in from the cave mouth.

Allison hung back at the opening and looked around at the half buried stalagmites that rose up out of the sand bottom. "You coming?" Bobby asked when he looked back and noticed her hesitation to follow.

"Either of you got a light?" she said answering his question with one of her own. Both boys shook their head in the negative and Allison tentatively made her way up onto the ledge. "Well, then I guess this should prove interesting."

The cave rose up a slight incline and bent so that it ran parallel to the beach outside. As they went their eyes began to adjust to the darkness, but Bobby also continuously iced one of the walls in order to bounce and reflect the light as much as they could into the depths of the cave. The back of the cave opened up into a large room and Bobby slowly made his way around the room, icing the wall as he went until he was standing once again in front of Sam and Allison. "Guess that's it," Bobby said disappointed.

"What were you hoping for? Pirate treasure?" Allison teased as she leaned back against a stalagmite and grinned, her expression looking spookier in the dim lighting. She let her eyes travel around the room, taking in its size and tilted her head thoughtfully. "I bet we're just on the other side of that wall from Kitty and Amara working on their tans," she said smirking.

"Speakin' of which, we should head back," Sam suggested as he reached up and offered Allison a hand. She accepted it and gingerly stepped down from her perch, being careful not to lose her balance as Bobby passed nearby.

As they walked back to the cave entrance, it did not seem to get any lighter, but rather started to get darker and darker. Their pace quickened assuming that they had been in there so long the sun was setting and finally each step splashed as water ran up over their toes. "What in the world?" Bobby exclaimed as he ran forward, his steps splashing loudly in the echoing cave.

"The tide came in," Allison said quietly as she froze and Sam instinctively reached out and took a hold of her arm as the cave continued to get darker. Already, they could barely make out Bobby's silhouette ahead of them.

"How much further was it ta the mouth of the cave?" Sam asked as the water washed up to his ankles.

"Too far," she answered stepping away from his grip slightly and further into the water. "Even if we could make the swim, once we were outside, the tide would toss us onto the rocks." She closed her eyes and focused on the expanse of water between them and cave opening. She swept her arms forward and the water washed back over their feet and left them standing temporarily on dry ground. But they heard it crash against the far wall of the cave and it came sweeping right back. "Unfortunately, I'm not strong enough to go up against the ocean," Allison said as she backpedaled away from the sweeping water.

Sam managed to catch her by the arm again and pulled her up against his chest to stop her retreat as he turned his attention to Bobby's slowly approaching silhouette. "Ev'rybody outta the water. Bobby, dam it up—thick."

Bobby turned and began to freeze over the surface of the water. Unfortunately, it left them in darkness and Sam silently cursed under his breath as he lost sight of Bobby. He rearranged Allison to stand behind him as he reached out blindly into the darkness and felt for Bobby. "Now what?" Bobby asked and his voice echoed making it sound like it was coming from everywhere.

Sam finally managed to place a hand on Bobby's shoulder, after first planting it squarely in the middle of Bobby's face. "We head ta that back room. If Al's right, Ah might be able to bust us out."

It was slow work picking their way through the cave as Sam kept himself as a physical barrier between the other two teens. At one point, when Allison stumbled, he instinctually scooped her up in his arms and carried her as he carefully kept placing one bare foot in front of the other.

She said nothing but looked up at his dark shadow of a face and could make out nothing of his features or what he might have been thinking. She wasn't used to such chivalry all the time. She wrapped her arms around his neck and gently shifted her weight into a more comfortable position. Her cheek ended up pressed against his warm shoulder and she had no desire to move further.

Eventually, he set her down to sit on a rock and gave her a smile that she could barely make out if it wouldn't have been for his teeth. He then stepped back and she was alone in the darkness unable to make out either Sam or Bobby in the black shadows. She hugged herself against the cold and damp, beginning to regret not having anything more to wear.

Finally a second figure entered her small perimeter of vision and hesitated keeping its distance. "You okay?" Bobby asked.

"A little chilled," she answered rubbing her arms.

"Don't worry. Sam'll have us out of here in a few moments. You'll see."

The cave seemed to shudder as there was the sound of ice cracking and breaking as well as rocks crumbling and falling from the ceiling of the cave. Allison and Bobby both held their arms up over their heads protectively against the falling debris. A second time they could hear Sam collide against the wall which resulted in larger debris starting to fall down. There was a groan that immediately followed this shudder of the cave and Allison leapt to her feet and scrambled over the rocks towards the direction of the sound. "Sam! Are you alright? Answer me!"

"Come on buddy. Say something. Let us know where you are," Bobby called out.

"O'er here," came the groaning reply and Allison quickly redirected herself towards the sound of Sam's voice. She slipped and slid over the rocks, turning her ankle but kept moving until she fell flat on her face after tripping over Sam's long legs. She blinked looking up to find herself lying on his chest and staring directly into his heavily shadowed face. His hands found her shoulders and gently pushed her up as he sat up as well.

"You alright, Hardhead?" Bobby asked.

"Ah'll be fine as soon as Ah get through that wall," Sam replied.

"You're not fine," Allison scolded as she ran her hand over his forehead and it came back sticky. "You're bleeding."

"Head wounds bleed a lot," he muttered trying to get back to his feet.

"Who are you trying to impress?" Bobby snorted. "You're not Wolverine so sit back down."

"He's right," Allison said standing up and heading back towards the wall he'd been pounding away at. "If we end up trapped, the last thing we need is for one of us to be seriously injured." She was running her hand over the rock surface and paused when she was able to barely make out air flow. "Bobby, come here," she said turning to look for Bobby's approaching silhouette.

He came directly at her but stopped just a foot shy. "What?" he asked narrowing his eyes and trying to see better in the darkness.

"Sam managed to crack the wall. I'm gonna melt into the crack and then I want you to freeze it over."

"No way. What was that speech you just gave about someone being injured while we're stuck? Remember, you don't handle cold very well, or have you already forgotten?"

"Water expands when it's frozen. It should be enough force to break open the wall," she argued.

"Ya ain't doin' it, Al. What if it don' break an' then yo' trapped?"

"If it doesn't break, then we're all trapped until the tide goes out tomorrow. By then, _you'll_ have bled out."

"Damn it, Al," Sam growled pushing himself up to stand again but Bobby caught him by the shoulder and pushed him to sit. Bobby worked quickly to build a dome over the two of them to protect them from any further falling rocks and then he made an exaggerated nod of the head to Allison. They watched in the poor lighting as Allison climbed part way up the wall and touched a hand to the crack and then she disappeared. Bobby gave her until the count of ten before he started to ice the wall heavily.

Sam sat and pressed a hand to his forehead, feeling the blood running down his forearm and he watched as the wall sparkled with what little light there was in the cave and then there was a thunderous crack as the wall split open. Bobby's dome was immediately under bombardment and it sounded like they were sitting directly underneath at least a dozen mortars. Sam looked up finally to see that, well, that he could actually see again and he squinted against the sunlight pouring into the cave at them. His vision was heavily discolored red as blood was seeping into his one eye and he scrambled to his feet before Bobby could stop him.

Sam began to dig through the pile of rocks that had once been the only thing standing between them and sunlight and freedom. He was completely oblivious of the fact that Bobby was almost immediately at his side digging as well nearly as frantic to find Allison amongst the rubble. Sam was so afraid that all they'd find would be shards of ice.

"What happened?" "You're bleeding!" "Where's Allison?"

Sam pushed aside a rock and saw a blue tinged hand and shouted incoherently at first before Bobby turned to see as well. "She's here!" Bobby shouted as he joined Sam's effort to quickly remove the rocks in order to reveal more of Allison until they were looking down at her pale blue face. Sam reached down to feel for a pulse on her neck and jerked back. It was worse than touching a flag pole in winter.

"She's totally frozen," Kitty murmured from over Sam's shoulder. Kitty then grabbed Piotr and phased the two of them through the rocks so that he could lift Allison's frozen body up and free. The Russian shivered as he set Allison back down again and stepped back quickly to rub his hands together.

Sam's head swiveled around and spotted Amara who was hovering near the back of the group chewing on her fingernails nervously. "Amara, ya gotta help her. Please," Sam begged as he scrambled back to his feet but was caught by Scott who yanked the younger boy to a stop before he could reach the pack of girls.

"Jean, take her back to the institute," Scott directed and Jean immediately went into action lifting Allison's body effortlessly down the beach and towards the waiting vehicles. Most of the students scrambled to follow as Scott wrestled to keep Sam still for a moment. "She'll be okay," Scott promised. "She's tough."

"It's mah fault," Sam said furrowing his brow as he watched everyone else leave.

"Looks to me like you gave it one hell of a try yourself," Scott noted as his brow wrinkled with concern at the amount of blood that seemed to be coming from Sam's forehead.

Sam just wiped away the fresh blood that was attempting to run into his eye and Kurt appeared at his elbow holding a towel. "Here," Kurt said holding it up and Sam accepted the towel dumbly before getting Kurt's help to wad it up and apply pressure to his own wound. With a blink, Kurt had teleported them into the back of Allison's truck bed and Sam was gazing down at her frozen form as Kurt disappeared with another 'Bamf!' to reappear in the front passenger seat of the truck as Jean began to drive back to the institute. Sam just held onto the side of the bed for dear life but couldn't take his eyes off Allison's pale blue form.

* * *

><p>"You're like still down here?" Kitty asked as she leaned in through the doorway of the med bay. Sam lifted his head and gave her a weary eyed look. "It's been two days and you seriously look like you need some sleep."<p>

"Ah'm fine," he sighed leaning back in his chair before running his hands through his hair, shaking out the long strands that were clumping and oily from not taking a shower.

"At least eat something," Kitty suggested and then as an after thought, "and clean up. You can't blame yourself for what happened."

"Sure Ah can. If Ah would have kept tryin' or somethin', she wouldn' be like this." He turned to look back down at Allison's still form that was hooked up to various pieces of equipment that were monitoring her brain function, heart rate, breathing, and temperature. Everything had been slowed due to her frozen state. It seemed more like she was trying to come back from a coma rather than a deep sleep.

"That's silly. She volunteered."

Sam just shook his head at Kitty's ignorance of what had happened in the cave. "Have ya seen Bobby?"

"I passed him on my way down here. I thought he just visited." Sam shook his head in the negative and Kitty shrugged her shoulders. "Well, try to get some sleep. Because no offense, you look horrible."

"Gee thanks." Kitty smiled as she waved and exited and Sam sat back in his chair again and listened to the slow beeping of the equipment. He ran his hand through his hair again as he tried to fight off the sleep that was quickly starting to win the war. He allowed himself to lean forward until his head was resting on his arm on the edge of the bed and smiled softly as he reached over and gripped her hand. He gave it a gentle squeeze before allowing his eyes to close and sleep to come.

* * *

><p>"She truly is an amazing girl," Emma noted as she looked through the window into the medbay.<p>

Charles frowned up at her sensing that she was not being entirely honest about her opinion. "I agree," he said slowly, "She's a very caring person and has an extraordinary capability of putting others before herself."

"Do you think it's possible..." Emma started to say before hesitating, acting as if she was looking for the right words while all along Charles knew where she was starting to go with this. "Her ability to heal, for self preservation, it's uncanny, even amongst mutants."

"Do I think she's an External? No," he stated flatly as he started to wheel himself away from the room and she followed him. "I simply believe that her mutant abilities give her certain defensive capabilities."

"You heard what Bobby said. She was in her water form filling a crack when he froze her. Yet when the students found her in the rubble, she was whole. There is something more to it than just her mutant abilities, Charles."

"Emma, every External that we have encountered has been at least a hundred years old."

"They all had to be young once, Charles, you know that. Who's to say she isn't the External of this generation?"

"And what if she is? What difference does it make? She is still a child trying to gain understanding of her abilities. Filling her head with nonsense about immortality will only do her more harm than good. I highly recommend that you let this drop, Emma, and never speak of it again." Xavier turned and wheeled himself away down the hall leaving Emma by herself at the window. She allowed herself to muse as she watched Sam sleeping at Allison's side. An External at the institute could either be a very good thing or a very bad thing. It all depended on who knew about it.

* * *

><p>Allison fought waking up. She kept her eyes squeezed shut against the bright white light that threatened to burn through her eyelids and tried to ignore the insistent beeping that reminded her far too much of her alarm clock. She shifted trying to roll over onto her side and found the movement to be somewhat restricted. Finally she opened her eyes so that she could reach down to untangle the blankets and was surprised to find Sam asleep. he was sitting in a chair next to the bed and fallen asleep with his head resting near her hip as he held her hand so loosely that she hadn't even felt it.<p>

The more awake she became, the more aware she became that this wasn't her bedroom and that wasn't her alarm clock going off to tell her it was time for training. She closed her eyes again trying to remember how she'd gotten to the medical bay but drew a blank after going to the beach. Her eyes snapped back open as she gazed down at the top of Sam's head. They'd been trapped inside the cave.

She shifted, rolling onto her side and reached over to brush her fingers through his hair and pushed the long blonde strands back from his forehead to reveal a butterfly bandage and the faint scars of several stitches that had been removed. She let out a soft sigh grateful that he was okay.

The grip on her hand tightened as he lifted his head and blinked at her wearily before a huge smile took over his face. "Yo' okay."

"Yeah. I'm fine. I'm feeling a little out of it though since apparently getting frozen results in blackouts. But otherwise, I'm fine." She reached up and gently touched the bandage over his brow and he winced a little. "I thought you were invulnerable when you were doing your thing," she teased.

"Ah am. However, fallin' on a bunch of sharp rocks after a quick stop, not so much." He gave a little shrug but was still smiling to see that she was slowly pushing herself up to sit in the bed.

She laughed lightly at his joke and allowed her hand to drop back into her lap. "So, do you make it a habit to watch girls sleep? Or is this a new thing for you?"

He hesitated and glanced down while scratching the back of his head for a moment. "Ah guess 's a new thing. Jus' seemed like someone should be here when ya woke up."

"Exactly how long have I been asleep?" she asked.

He looked back up and licked his lips before answering and Allison knew right away she wouldn't like the answer. "Two days."

She sat up sharply and could feel some of the wires connected to her body strain against the movement. "What?"

Sam cringed a tiny bit at her reaction and gave her a sheepish look. "Ah'm sorry. Beast's been tryin' electric blankets an jus' 'bout ev'rythin' else ta get yo' temperature back up. Unfortunately, it was a lot worse than the last time when it happened durin' the trainin' session."

Allison leaned back against her pillows and sighed. She turned her head away from Sam in order to look at the monitoring equipment for herself and noted that her core body temperature was still only in the very low nineties. Far enough below normal to be of concern. She let a puff of air out over her lips and propped herself back up on her elbows. "So that means it's Monday, right?" He nodded and she sighed again. "So we've got practice today. Well, I'm not staying in this bed a moment longer."

"Ah really don' think ya should leave yet," Sam protested. "McCoy's gonna wanna see ya now that yo' awake."

"Well, what time is it?"

Sam consulted his watch. "Jus' before nine."

Then he can see me at breakfast," she said tossing aside the blankets and immediately a shiver shot up through her body. She was wearing nothing more than a flimsy hospital gown and her eyes darted all over for something to throw on over top. Sam stood up and watched her curiously for a moment before picking up his jacket that had been thrown over the back of his chair and wrapped it around her shoulders. She looked up at him gratefully and smiled. "You gonna help me with this jail break?"

He nodded in the affirmative and stepped back and watched as she threw her legs out over the edge of the bed and stood up shakily. He quickly wrapped an arm around her shoulders and helped to support her weight as she got used to walking again. By the time they'd reached the elevator, she was much more sturdy but he still didn't relinquish his hold on her.

They exited the elevator on the dorms floor and cut down the hall to her bedroom. She flashed him a quick smile before shutting the door behind her and leaving him to stand alone in the hallway. He tapped his foot and contemplated changing clothes for himself. he took off at a run and Bobby looked up startled when Sam came crashing into the room. Sam didn't even take time for a hello as he dug through his dresser for a change of clothes and then ducked into the bathroom. Looking into the mirror, he cringed and then put his head in the sink as he let the water run through his hair. He stood up straight again and contemplated the various hair gels and products that Bobby kept and frowned. "What the hell, man? You look like you've got thirty seconds or less for a date. What gives?"

Sam was startled out of his thoughts as he looked back at Bobby and shook his head. "Not a date," he corrected his friend. "Al jus' woke up an' Ah didn' want ta keep her waitin'."

"She's okay then?" Bobby asked looking more than a little relieved.

"Yeah. Ah think she's still a li'l chilled, but she's gonna be okay. She's gettin' dressed an' goin' ta breakfast."

"She's a little crazy," Bobby joked as he crossed his arms over his chest and then noticed Sam's dripping hair. "Try that one," he said indicating a black jar with purple lettering.

Sam smiled gratefully as he opened the container and then contemplated the amount to actually use. Finally he stuck his hand in and began running his fingers through the long hair. When he was done all he could think was that it just looked different from his normal, but it was certainly better than it had looked five minutes ago. He was almost back out the door again when Bobby sprayed him with something and he sneezed. "What was that?"

"For the smell. I bet you're really regretting not taking a shower right about now," Bobby said with a smirk.

Sam just wrinkled up his nose at the smell of the cologne he'd been hit with and ran back down the hall to see that Allison was just leaving her own bedroom dressed in a pair of jeans and a hoodie.

She handed Sam his denim jacket back with a smile and buried her hands into the deep front pocket as she did her best to hide a shiver. "I like what you did with your hair," she commented, cocking her head at an angle to better view the changed style.

"Really?" he asked raising an eyebrow in suspicion as he slipped his jacket back on.

"Well, it'd probably look better if your hair was a tiny bit shorter. But not too short," she warned as she reached up to finger his hair a little by his ear. "I like longer hair on guys."

They walked in comfortable silence down to the kitchen and the usual dull roar of noise fell quiet as they entered. It just as quickly restarted as their was a scraping of chairs as everyone got up to greet Allison and give her hugs and immediately plates piled with food were placed in front of two seats as she and Sam were ushered to sit.

"Eat," Kitty commanded before giving Sam a hard look. "You must be starved. Especially you, Sam."

Allison glanced at Sam for an explanation and he had already lowered his gaze onto his eggs which he was quietly making a dent into. "Thanks, Kitty," Allison said as she took a bite of her bacon. "But did I miss something? Why the concern for Sam too?" She glanced sideways at him again wondering if there'd been more to the cut on his forehead than she'd originally thought.

"Well, Sam has been on a hunger strike while he sat at your side this entire time. None of us could convince him to leave, not even to eat or _anything_."

Allison hid her smirk by taking a bite of toast and cast another glance at Sam. That would certainly explain his disappearance and return smelling faintly of cologne and wearing hair gel for the first time since she'd met him. It would also explain why he'd already managed to clean his plate and looked to be contemplating seconds already. "Well, then I guess it's a good thing I wasn't asleep much longer or poor Sam here would have entirely withered away," Allison teased.

"I know!" Kitty agreed. "He's already so tall and lanky."

Sam blushed at the comment about his build but said or did nothing in his own defense. Allison just smiled at the tint in his cheeks.

"Glad you're okay, Luv," Betsy said as she took the seat across from Allison and smiled at her roommate.

"That makes for at least ten of us, I believe," Allison said laughing.

"Make that eleven," Bobby said as he sat down next to Betsy. "I'd give you a hug, but I don't want to send you right back when you just got out." He looked over at Sam and caught his eye long enough to wink. Sam just shook his head but didn't leave Bobby hanging when he held up his hand for a fist bump.

"I appreciate that," Allison said grinning as she continued to eat her breakfast. It felt good to be out of the med bay and getting back to normal. A heavy hand fell on her shoulder and Allison looked up to see that it was blue and fuzzy. "Hey, Doc."

"Hello, Allison. How are you feeling?"

"Pretty good, actually."

"Do you recall what your temperature was before you left?" he asked raising an eyebrow as he scrutinized her face.

"Ninety-five," she instinctively lied. McCoy glanced to Sam for confirmation and he nodded in agreement. "I know it's still a little low, but I really do feel fine," Allison said giving him a pleading look. "Please, please, please don't make me go back down."

McCoy just smiled and gave her a trying look. He was starting to get used to the students balking at medical treatment. They all felt they were invincible. "Alright. Just promise me that you'll take it easy today." She smiled brilliantly and nodded eagerly in response.


	10. A Surprise Visitor

**FYI:**  
>I do not own the X-Men. I do own Allison...and a few of her friends as well.<p>

**ZoeyZone: **More is coming. Unfortunately, I struggle to write linearly. Believe it or not, I have the epilogue to the story written right now. But I'm struggling with the next chapter. *Shrugs* It's weird. But, I find it's better than forcing myself to write filler dribble. So instead, I write whatever comes to me, as it comes to me.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 10: A Surprise Visitor<strong>

"I can't believe you're going to be seventeen in two days!" Kitty said excitedly as the girls walked down the front steps. They were on their way to join the others in the living room for an exciting evening of reality TV. This was made exciting by gambling chores on silly things like who would get kicked off and who would win a challenge. Allison was relatively proud of herself for doing well so far especially for not being the least bit interested in these types of shows before.

"Kitty, it's really not a big deal," Allison sighed. "It's not even a sweet sixteen or anything."

"But it's your first birthday with us. And if I have anything to do about it, it's going to be like totally unforgettable." Kitty just beamed and Betsy shot Allison a look that said, 'beware'.

Allison sighed in defeat and shrugged. She had thus far managed to survive more than a month at the institute. She'd even gotten used to waking up before the crack of dawn for training sessions with Logan. She'd even survived a cave in. In fact, she'd been doing pretty good since then. She and Bobby had managed to eek out a friendship without any form of physical contact. Granted, keeping Sam in the middle certainly helped. Surely, she could manage a party planned by Kitty Pryde.

Kitty jumped onto Allison's back hugging her tightly. "Thank you! I can't wait to dress you up too."

"That might be pushing your luck," Allison warned getting a dark chuckle out of Betsy. Allison had a strong visual image of leaving Kitty bound and gagged in the danger room for a few days and Betsy was getting it all too clearly.

They were almost to the hallway leading back to the living room when the doorbell rang, Kitty was already skipping ahead rattling off her random ideas for a party and Allison and Betsy glanced back over their shoulders to see if any adults would be getting it. "Why don't you answer it, Luv," Betsy suggested before walking on ahead.

Allison rolled her eyes at getting left with having to answer the door but she returned to the foyer and her heart skipped quite a few beats when she saw who was standing on the other side of the glass door. She quickened her pace as she opened the door and was quickly swept up into a hug. "Happy birthday!"

When her feet found the ground again, Allison rested her hands on the broad shoulders in front of her and gazed up at rugged features of Mark's face. "What are you doing here?" she asked in her surprise.

He laughed at her and tweaked her chin as he winked. "I came to see you, of course. Mr. Xavier said that it would be okay for me to stay here for a few days."

Allison forced a cheerful smile to mask her fear as she stepped back and allowed him to come inside. She still hadn't found a way to tell him that she was a mutant and she was afraid that at any second someone would come flying through-literally. "He did? That's...fantastic," she lied as she placed a hand on his arm and led him back towards the living room. She frantically directed her thoughts to Betsy hoping that the Brit would pick up on them and spread the word to keep the mutant powers at bay at least for a little while.

Everything appeared normal when they entered the living room, and it remained as such for the next few minutes to Allison's appreciation. Apparently her plea had been heard.

Kitty was the first to notice their entrance and she did a very fast double take before completely turning around backwards on the couch. "You totally failed to mention that you had a totally hunky brother, Al!"

Allison could feel her cheeks turning bright pink as she let go of Mark's arm and took a tiny step to the side. "He's not my brother," she said. "This is Mark, my best friend from back home."

Sam stiffened from where he was sitting at one of the side tables with Bobby and Ray. He looked up and tried to not let his jaw go slack. Mark was at least a couple of inches taller than he was and he was easily built like Piotr. In fact, he would bet on Mark in a fight as long as Piotr didn't armor up.

"It's like totally nice to meet you," Kitty gushed. "And you're totally hot. Allison completely failed to mention that the boys from her hometown were so cute. Watch it Al, if you don't make a move, I might have to." She winked but was quickly dragged back down on the couch by Piotr who turned and shook his head in apology.

"Well, you've now met Kitty," Allison said to Mark waving towards the petite brunette. "And that's her boyfriend, Piotr, so you can breathe a little easier. She won't actually be jumping you."

"I heard that!" Kitty protested as she tried to squirm around Piotr's grip.

Betsy appeared on the other side of Mark and held out her hand. "'Ello, Luv. I'm Betsy, Al's roommie."

Mark gripped her hand and smiled seeing that there were normal girls at Allison's school. "Mark," he replied cordially.

Allison quickly pulled him towards the guys and pointed them out in turn. "This is Sam, Bobby, Roberto and Ray. They're cool. Sam plays football too so you guys should get along," Allison said beaming up at Mark. Mark nodded and slid an arm around her waist which she quickly side stepped as she moved on.

"That's Jamie, Sarah, Rahne and Danielle playing Monopoly over there, and that's Amara and Jubilee fighting over the magazine." Kurt waved from his spot on the couch next to Kitty just in case Allison had managed to forget him and Allison smiled to see that he wasn't blue and fuzzy. "That's Kurt, and the couple cuddling on the arm chair is Scott and Jean." Jean narrowed her eyes at the description but Scott smiled and waved.

Seeing that Mark looked a little overwhelmed she placed her hand on his arm and turned him back towards the door. "Why don't we go catch up though?" she offered and he nodded gratefully. They left going further down the hall until Allison led him out a side door onto one of the mansion's balconies.

Sam stood up and when Bobby looked up at him with more than a little concern he just shook his head and said, "Ah need some air."

"He's just a friend from back home," Bobby said earning him a glare from Sam. "Dude, you can tell she's not into him like that. She kept dodging him every time he got touchy-feely."

"Bobby, Ah swear, if ya don' learn ta shut up, Ah'm gonna help ya."

Bobby shrugged and watched as Sam too left the room, slamming the door behind him loud enough to cause everyone to turn.

"He's totally jealous," Kitty cooed and got knocked across the back of the head with a well aimed magazine by Betsy.

"You need to shut it too, Luv. Let the poor bloke be."

* * *

><p>Allison was now starting to regret bringing Mark outside alone. Immediately he had an arm around her waist again and she couldn't shy away anymore. As much time as she'd had to think, she'd failed to do so. Instead, she'd allowed herself to get distracted by football and making friends. Looking up at him, she chewed her lip and wondered how she was going to manage to spit out either of the two topics that needed to be broached.<p>

"There's something, I've been meaning to tell you," she said with a small sigh. She looked down and found nothing there to look at except for Mark's chest. She frowned slightly as she wondered if he would look as good as Sam in an X-Man uniform. So instead she glanced sideways and frowned even deeper when she saw that they had acquired a small audience. She contemplated leading him farther away but knew it probably wouldn't do any good.

"Well, there's something I've been meaning to ask you too," he said smiling down at her. He gently brushed her hair back behind her ear and tilted her head back up to face him.

"Oh, uh, you go first," she said hesitantly.

"I was wondering if you were planning to come home and visit at all this semester. 'Cause, well, ya see, I was hoping you might, if you wanted, be my date for homecoming."

Allison blinked. She'd forgotten how awkward Mark could be when it came to things like this. If she was honest with herself, they were probably actually perfect for each other in that respect. She actually had to consciously remind herself not to let her jaw go slack. "Are you asking me out?"

He hesitated for a moment before nodding. "I really like you," he admitted. "And I don't want to look back one day and regret not taking a chance. So since me kissing you wasn't clear enough, yes, I'm asking you out, Allison."

When he leaned down to kiss her, Allison seemed to recover from her shock as she placed her hands on his broad chest and gently pushed him back again. "Wait. There was something I needed to tell you too."

He nodded and leaned back even slower, not wanting to give up what little ground he'd managed to make after a long drive.

"I'm...well...I'm a mutant," she said practically spitting it out. She couldn't think of a better way of saying it other than being blunt and Mark laughed.

"I know."

"What?" Her eyes snapped open wide as she looked up at him. That had certainly not been the reaction she'd expected. She'd hoped for a good one. Perhaps some acceptance. But he already knew?

"Some of the other kids were outside playing when I pulled up. Uh, Rahne I think you said her name was. Well, I watched her transform from being a wolf. And Jamie...well, I thought at first he was triplets. We're from the country, Al, but I ain't dumb." He was watching her carefully, rubbing her shoulders in what he hoped was a comforting manner. "Considering, I'm putting this together in less than an hour, I'd say that it's actually making a lot of sense. Is that why you were always getting sick?"

"You don't care?" she asked, her brows creasing with disbelief at what she was hearing.

"Why would I care, Al? You're still the girl I practically grew up with. I'm just guessing you now also have super powers," he said chuckling.

"I wouldn't go that far," she sighed holding a hand to her forehead. "I can manipulate water and to a point, I react like it as well. The professor thinks that while my abilities were latent that it was causing my illnesses, so I am better now, much better."

"Can I see?"

Allison scratched her head looking around them for something to demonstrate on and came up empty. She was hoping to keep her demonstration small so as to not overwhelm him when he was being ridiculously understanding thus far. Finally she sighed and stepped back from his hold.

As he watched, her form became transparent, the surface rippling against the light breeze before it seemingly collapsed into a puddle at his feet. Mark stepped back in surprise as a much more solid looking Allison seemed to rise out of the ground before him. "Th-that's cool," he stammered. He recovered and stepped back towards her, placing a hand on the back of her neck as he pulled her in to him to kiss her. Allison closed her eyes as his lips brushed against hers and she sighed as they parted. "And it most definitely doesn't change how I feel about you," he said.

Allison could feel the heat rising up in her cheeks and for a few moments, she forgot about their audience just inside as she rocked up onto the balls of her feet and kissed him again. She wrapped her arms around his neck and she could feel his going around her waist pulling her completely up against him. Finally she pulled back gasping for breath and shook her head. "This'll never work," she moaned.

"Why not?" he asked confused by her rapid changes.

"'Cause I'm here and you're there and then there's college and...it'll never work," she sighed still shaking her head.

"We can make it work." He gave her a quick peck on the cheek and a warming smile. "Just sleep on it. I'll be here for a few days. Allison just sighed and nodded a little numbly. Once again, the pressure was on to think about it and it had just been cranked up to high gear.

* * *

><p>Sam was walking around the mansion trying to calm himself down before he went back inside. He knew there was no escaping Bobby who had failed to cease a nearly constant third degree on him as soon as he'd figured out that Sam had the slightest interest in Allison. It had even managed to get worse after the day at the beach. Probably because it marked the point in which Allison and Bobby had cleared the air between them and could actually manage to be functioning friends-including an ability to gang up against him.<p>

Sam let a puff of air through tightened lips as he turned a corner of the building and froze when he saw Mark's back no more than fifty feet away up on the balcony. Sam cursed his luck as he went to walk away but paused when he saw Allison shift into view. As he watched, she took on her watery form and melted into a puddle at Mark's feet before slowly rising back up again. He blinked as he watched, always mystified by her abilities. To him, it seemed that she should fail to ever come back together again, and yet, she always did.

Unfortunately for Sam, as he was still watching, Mark pulled Allison to him and kissed her. Sam frowned, closing his eyes, not wanting to watch as his chance with a girl disappeared once again. When he reopened his eyes, they'd parted but only briefly as Allison then leaned in to kiss Mark a second time. Sam let out a disheartened sigh as the disappointment of being wrong yet again when it came to the subject of girls began to overwhelm him. He turned back the way he'd come and hoped that for the remainder of Mark's visit that he'd be able to avoid the other farm boy as much as humanly, and even mutantly possible.

* * *

><p>"So...you're Allison's boyfriend?" Bobby asked as Mark dug through his duffel trying to find clothes to sleep in. Sam shot him a murderous look which Bobby responded to with a shrug while Mark's back was turned. Sam already wanted to kill Bobby. There was a perfectly good room down the hall where Mark could have stayed. Yes, it was with Scott which is possibly a fate worse than death, but he would have gladly used Mark as a test subject in the matter. So why in the world was this guy, who had unwittingly become his enemy numero uno, staying in the same room as him for the next several days? Oh, that's right, Bobby had volunteered them.<p>

"It's complicated," Mark admitted as he stood up and shrugged. "We've been best friends for what feels like forever, but lately I guess I've been hoping for more."

"Yeah, it's impossible for guys and girls to stay 'just friends'," Bobby said knowingly.

Mark just chuckled and shook his head. "No, it's not like that. Before my grandfather died, he told me that the secret to staying married as long as he and my grandma had been was to marry your best friend. I didn't really get it at the time, but I started realize that having Al around made everything better. That's when I understood. Your best friend is someone you can't imagine not having in your life. So why wouldn't you commit to spend your life with them?"

Bobby looked stumped. He hadn't expected that for an answer. Perhaps he'd been hoping for a commentary more along the lines that Ray usually had when it come to topic of Allison. It certainly would have made a better case for Sam to keep up the pursuit. But now Sam looked like he was going to either kill Bobby or jump off the balcony.

"But I really just want Al to be happy. Whether we're dating or not, she'll always be my best friend," Mark added with a smile.

Sam was definitely leaning towards killing Bobby. There was no competing against that. The guy was the perfect, wholesome farm boy that any girl would be stupid not to date. Apparently, there wasn't a single impure thought on Mark's brain. Unlike Sam who was starting to find more and more of those types of thoughts creeping in around the corners. In fact, it was almost like having the devil on his shoulder replaced by Ray who couldn't shut up about Allison's mile long legs. Further not helped by the fact that he spent every day with her and got to see her wearing things such as spandex for training and tiny, tiny shorts for football practice.

As Sam sat silently on his bed pretending to be more interested in his comic book, he couldn't help but see that Mark was ripped as he changed into his pajamas. He bit the inside of his cheek as he pulled the comic up higher over his face and groaned. The guy wasn't even a mutant and he was built better than Piotr. Apparently, Sam had left the farm too soon if all it took to look like that was tossing hay bales.

* * *

><p>Sam woke up extra early the next morning slipping out of the room past both Bobby and Mark and headed to the lower levels of the mansion. He flipped on the light to reveal the weight room and peeled off the shirt he'd slept in.<p>

In the center of the room was a weight bag that looked a little worse for wear after going a few rounds with Piotr but it still was holding at least 95% of its stuffing. Sam clenched his fists and pretended that the punching bag was Mark as he laid into it with a long series of punches and kicks. He finally collapsed to sit back in defeat and drenched in sweat. He had a feeling that the thick farm boy would have just as easily withstood his attacks. He cursed his lanky build as he crossed his arms over his knees.

"Doing some extra training, bub?" Sam laid on his back and looked at the door upside down to see Logan leaning against the door frame. The older man crossed his arms over his chest and raised an eyebrow expectantly.

"Maybe."

"Try using the gloves. It hurts less," he suggested as he entered the room and grabbed the boxing gloves off a nearby weight bench. He tossed them to Sam so that they landed on the boy's stomach.

Sam held his hands up in front of his face and turned them so he was looking at the backs and realized that his knuckles were cut and bleeding. "Thanks."

Logan sat down on the weight bench and eyed the boy for a moment before sighing. "I don't do this often, but what's your problem?"

"Ah really like this girl, but there are times where Ah think she doesn' even know Ah exist," Sam explained as he slowly sat up and spun to face Logan.

Logan let out a low growl and shook his head. "I'm sorry I asked, but it's too late for that. Why don't you try talking to her?"

"Ah do…all the time. Ah jus' don' think she sees meh as anything other than a friend."

"Kicks, huh?" Logan said smirking and Sam's face fell.

"Is it that obvious?"

"To everyone but her, I'm guessing." Logan stood up and went to leave but paused in the door. "Well, good luck, bub."

"Thanks," Sam muttered realizing that he'd hit a new low by getting relationship advice from Logan. He slid the gloves on as he stood back up and began another attack on the punching bag. After another fifteen minutes of pure exertion, he gave up and dropped the gloves back onto the weight bench and picked up his t-shirt as he headed back upstairs.

Entering the room, only Bobby was starting to wake up and he stared at Sam in confusion seeing his long hair matted with sweat. "Did I sleep through training?" he hissed trying not to wake Mark.

"Nah, man. Ah jus' couldn' sleep." With that he shut the bathroom door behind him and Bobby shrugged as he drifted back off to sleep lulled by the sound of the shower running.

* * *

><p>Allison leaned over the engine of her truck with a pair of pliers and wire cutters as she messed with the radio. Somehow the damn thing was wired all the way up into here and not just easily accessible from under the dash. Finally, she managed to disconnect the last of the wires and reached out to where she'd placed her rag in order to wipe the grease from her hands. "Don't hit your head," a voice warned and of course that's exactly what she did as she straightened jerkily.<p>

She turned, rubbing the back of her head from where it'd connected with the hood and gave Mark a lopsided smile. "Hello, Mark. Why do you insist on jinxing me like that?" she asked as she moved around the front of the truck to the passenger seat. She leaned over, carefully removing the radio from the dash and then carried it over and unceremoniously dropped it into a large garbage can.

"Making some alterations?" he asked raising an eyebrow to the loud ruckus of clanging the metal box had made dropping into the can.

"Yep," came her oversimplified response as she moved back to the truck and began opening a cardboard box that contained her new radio/CD player.

"Need help?" he asked grinning as he watched her. she was always stubborn and it amused the hell out of him.

"Nope." came her next monosyllabic response as she pulled away the plastic wrapping and styrofoam padding.

"Are you made at me?" he asked as she climbed into the front seat again to slide the new radio into the empty space the old one had left behind.

"No, should I?"she asked as her head temporarily bobbed up to be seen through the driver's side window and he shook his head in amusement as she disappeared again to begin screwing the new radio into place.

"I just thought that after last night…"

"I'm confused, okay?" she said cutting him off as she got back out of the truck and poked her head back in under the hood as she attempted to relocate the wires.

"About what?"

"Everything right now," she sighed heavily. She closed her eyes for a moment as she allowed last night's kiss to replay in her mind.

Mark leaned in over the engine next to her, watching as her stilled hands came back to life as she twisted the wires together completing the connections.

She pulled back as soon as she was done and quickly dropped the hood. He barely managed to get his head out in time. "You're just the queen of subtlety," he teased leaning back against the front end of the truck to watch as she used the rag to wipe her hands again before crossing in front of him to go to the driver's side to turn on the ignition.

"Yeah, I'm as subtle as an atomic bomb," she muttered turning the key and the radio started up perfectly without static.

"Good work," he commented as _Love Me When I'm Gone_ played through the speakers.

Allison paused staring at the dash for a few moments before coming back to herself. "As always," she replied, her smile easily taking over her features as she cut the engine and hopped out of the truck.

"I never figured out where you learned mechanics," he commented as he patted the hood of the engine. "I remember when you were rebuilding this thing."

"I dunno, comes naturally," she said shrugging as she balled up the rag in her hands and tossed it over her shoulder into the trash can without looking.

"That puzzles me too."

"What?"

"The whole playing ball thing. You're too good."

Allison just smirked as she brushed past him and exited the garage. "You're just jealous." She turned pulling down the garage door with a little grunt until Mark reached up and eased it down, casting her sideways smile as he did. She didn't get a chance to say anything as she saw the guys walking around the corner of the mansion, Bobby leading the pack and tossing a football absentmindedly from one hand to the other. "Hey guys," she said waving her hand and causing Mark to turn and see what had caught her attention.

"Hey, Al. You up for a game?" Bobby asked as he tossed a football from one hand to the other absentmindedly.

"Sure," Allison said quickly shooting the guys a smile as she placed a hand on Mark's chest to hold him at bay from his attempt to wrap an arm around her. She patted his chest gently as she turned and looked up at him. "Mark'll even things out."

"Sounds good, but we're breaking up the dream team," Ray said elbowing Sam in the ribs and giving him a wink. "It'll be me, Sam and Bobby versus you, Roberto and Mark."

"Just don't cry too much when we kick your ass," Allison said smirking as she rested her fists against her hips.

"So what are the rules?" Mark asked hesitantly. He'd gotten filled in a little bit about how things at the institute sometimes ran a little differently, especially anything that involved physical activity.

"No powers, no helmets, just balls," Bobby said as he tossed the football to Allison. "Got a problem with that li'l lady?" he teased. "That and it's ten seconds before you can tackle the QB."

Allison just nodded, the smirk never leaving her face. "Okay, Mark cream his puny butt after the ten seconds, Roberto cover Ray and I'll take Sam." She rubbed her hands together, an evil grin flitting across her face and Mark's confidence returned. They trotted across to an open area of the yard and established roughly where the end zones would be before lining up against one another.

Ray hiked the ball back to Bobby and took off down the lawn with Roberto hot on his tracks while Mark began to ominously countdown as he slowly paced in front of Bobby, his shadow easily engulfing the smaller teen. "One-mississippi, two mississippi…"

Sam also took off and Allison spun on her heel to give chase. She could hear Mark still counting as time was running out and she glanced over her shoulder to see who Bobby would throw to. "Nine-mississippi, ten…" Bobby chucked the ball down field towards Sam's general direction. In desperation to keep him from catching the ball and taking off with his usual burst of speed, Allison made a flying leap, pinning his arms back down against his sides as she brought them both crashing down to earth.

* * *

><p>Betsy sighed as she tapped the pen against the annoyingly blank piece of paper in front of her. They were supposed to be making a shopping list so that Ororo could take them to pick up everything they needed but Kitty seemed far more interested in whatever was happening on the lawn than in helping. "Kitty, are you going to help or not?" Betsy asked out loud and got no response as the younger girl continued to stare out the window. "Alright, what is so bloody fascinating about the landscaping?"<p>

"The guys are out there playing football," came the response and Betsy heaved a heavy sigh before turning around in her chair to stare at Kitty's back.

"Seriously? Since when were you into football, Luv?"

"Since it looked like a makeout session," Kitty giggled pointing through the glass at the game outside.

Betsy finally stood up and moved to stand beside Kitty at the kitchen window and watched for herself. Only a couple dozen yards from the house, there was indeed a game of football taking place and the play had ended with Allison lying on top of Sam, the football bouncing away from them both. "That's a tackle."

"Looks like more to me," Kitty said still giggling as she watched Allison clumsily get back to her feet before offering Sam a hand. He took it and once back on his feet he leaned down to pick up the ball.

"If you start looking at all tackles that way, you're going to think that every football player is gay," Betsy said shaking her head as she went back to the table to look back down at her list. "Personally, this may be why football in Europe is an entirely different sport," Betsy joked as she held up their shopping list and waved it. "You ready to hit the mall or what?"

"Duh. Can I drive?" Kitty asked finally turning away from the window.

"No." Betsy shook her head to reinforce her monosyllabic response. "Ororo's taking us, remember?"

"Right," Kitty said still pouting a little bit. "Maybe she'll let me drive."

"God, I hope not," Betsy sighed as she followed Kitty out of the kitchen.


	11. Like the Rain

****Silver Stars of Quebec: ****Thank you. Wow, that's really a huge compliment. I hope that you enjoy finding out where things go with Mark.

****FYI:**  
><strong>I do not own the X-Men. But I do have the special privilege of owning Allison and putting her through whatever crazy scenarios I can dream up.

**Chapter 11: Like the Rain  
><strong>

* * *

><p>"Kitty, it's dinner for God's sake," Allison sighed as she impatiently sat in front of the vanity in her room while Kitty ran a brush through the wild tangle of curls trying to put them into a semblance of order. Finally Kitty arranged them into a low ponytail and used a large clip to hold the hair back from Allison's face. "What's with all the fuss?"<p>

"Well, Mark's only here for one more day. I thought you'd want to look extra cute for him," Kitty said with a shrug as she set the brush aside and admired her work. She knew she'd be pushing her luck if she tried to get any makeup on Allison but luckily Allison had a fantastic complexion that always showed off her flustered blushes well.

Allison just scoffed at the suggestion and crossed her arms over her chest. "That doesn't even make sense. He's not going to notice what I wear or how I put up my hair at all."

"Oh yes he will," Kitty admonished as she wrinkled her nose at Allison's clothes. She was wearing her far too usual jeans and a hoodie combination. "And he'll be absolutely shocked if you dump those baggy clothes for just one night."

"What's wrong with my clothes?" Allison asked defensively as she stood up and looked down at herself.

"What's not?" Kitty teased going into Allison and Betsy's closet. "You've got this rocking bod and you insist on covering it with too many bulky layers. You should be totally showing it off."

Allison just made a face at Kitty's back and found a t-shirt to be launched in her general direction. Allison picked it off her face and held it up to see that it actually was a shirt of Betsy's. "This isn't going to fit me," Allison said holding up the teal babydoll tee.

"Surprise yourself," Kitty sighed putting her hands on her hips. She was starting to regret begging for this job tonight. She should have allowed Betsy to get Allison dressed for the party and been downstairs with the others. She just hadn't counted on Allison being so stubborn-or self conscious. She waited while Allison stripped off her hoodie and the baggy t-shirt she'd had on underneath and carefully slipped the babydoll tee on so as to not disrupt the hair Kitty had so carefully arranged. When Allison's head reappeared, she was blushing hard as she looked into the mirror and nervously tugged at the front hem of the shirt which seemed to refuse to meet the top of her jeans. Kitty just grinned at how the simple change had seemingly transformed the other girl from looking like she'd just rolled out of bed to looking ready for a party. "You look great."

"Really?" Allison asked as she turned looking in a mirror. She was still not quite used to having such feminine curves. Aside from her uniform for training, she didn't wear anything else that would show them off really. She ran her hands down over her stomach, still trying to stretch the bottom hem of the shirt before turning to meet Kitty's gaze.

Kitty nodded as she grinned. "Who knew? You're a total hottie under that hoodie. Even Sam's going to have a hard time not wagging his tongue."

Allison's brows rose up at Kitty's mention of Sam. "You act like I'm wearing something scandalous. Our training uniforms are tighter than this and Sam sees me in that every day."

"True. But after a while the drool factor wears off a little because we're all wearing it," Kitty said with a shrug. "This is a change. It's definitely going to catch his attention."

"I thought you wanted me to catch Mark's attention," Allison said catching Kitty in her double entendre. The other girl paused for a moment and Allison crossed her arms over her chest. "Well, what are you up to?"

"I think you need to pick one of them," Kitty admitted. "They both totally like you. Mark can't seem to keep his hands off you and Sam's been walking around for the last few days in a near jealous rage."

"Sam's been jealous?" Allison's mouth twitched to the side in thought as she considered the behavior of her friends over the last few days. Kitty was right about Mark. And Sam had been acting a little more competitive lately. She'd just chalked it up to him being jealous of her time spent with Mark instead of him but she'd figured he'd get over it as soon as Mark went home. She hadn't realized that it was actually Sam being afraid that he'd lose her to Mark.

Kitty just watched as Allison sorted things out in her head and then smirked. "You didn't know, did you?"

"No...I mean, yes...a little. Maybe," Allison sighed as she sunk down onto the end of her bed. She chewed nervously on a fingernail while Kitty crossed the room to sit next to her. "What should I do?"

"Be honest," Kitty suggested. "With both of them," she added.

"I'm just not so sure I'm ready for this whole 'dating' thing," Allison said holding up quotation marks in the air. "I'm not a fan of changes."

Kitty paused and rested her chin on her fist for a moment as she thought. "Dating is a whole lot like being best friends. But with kissing. So I can understand why you're befuddled. Two really hunky guys are your best friends."

Allison snorted and started to laugh. "Maybe that is why I'm so confused," she admitted. "But shouldn't there be more to dating than that?"

Kitty just shrugged as she was uncertain of what to add. "Well, I know that Piotr would do anything for me. He's always being super protective. And I'd do anything for him too. A lot like Sam and you are," Kitty said tossing in the last part as she watched Allison for a reaction, perhaps even a contradiction.

"It's true, I would do anything for him. But I like to think I'd do it for all of you because you're my friends."

"But I know for a fact that he specifically watches your back in training," Kitty said with a smirk. "Sure he'd help Danielle or me if he saw we needed it, but he's looking out for you the entire time. And it's not just because you look good in your uniform."

Allison looked up meeting Kitty's gaze and sighed. "We should get going or Kurt's going to have eaten everything again." Kitty stood up and took Allison's hand and smiled. Before Allison could even react, they were phasing down through the floor of the bedroom and dropped into the hallway below. Instinctively, Allison landed in a crouched position and slowly stood back up as Kitty turned and phased through the nearest set of doors. "Kitty, wait!" She reached out and turned the door knob so that she could walk through the doors herself to follow her friend and was assaulted by a cacophony.

"SURPRISE!"

Allison stood rooted to the spot as the other students assaulted her with hugs and pulled her into the room. She spun and wheeled amongst them unable to gain any balance or bearings as she moved across the ballroom. Finally, a pair of strong arms surrounded her and lifted her off her feet in a bear hug. "Happy birthday, Al!"

She playfully slapped at Mark's arms, waiting for her sneakered toes to find purchase on the floor again before she spun to face him. "You brat," she reprimanded. He leaned in for a kiss and she quickly turned her head slightly to the side so that he caught her hot cheek instead of her lips but he took it in stride as he hugged her tightly again.

Before she could appreciate solid ground too much, she was dragged off to the side of the room where there was a small pyramid of gifts stacked up at the end of a long table that was covered in food as well as a tiered birthday cake. Amara was already digging into the pyramid and retrieved a card which she pressed into Allison's hands eagerly. "Open ours first," she commanded.

Allison obliged and opened the card to read the signatures of all of the female students and smiled as she pulled out a mall gift certificate. "We're taking you shopping this weekend," Jubilee said with a wink.

"Yeah, so that you can be the new hottie at Bayville next week," Kitty added as she elbowed Allison gently in the side. "We X-girls have a reputation to uphold."

Allison just blushed but didn't have much time to come up with any sort of witty retort as an unambiguously wrapped present was tossed at her by Ray. She tore away the paper to reveal a new leather football to replace hers that had been melted in an unforeseen accident of 'mutant ball' the a few weeks earlier. She grinned as she shot the guys a thumbs up and quickly glanced around to catch Sam's eye but he was nowhere nearby.

Sam stood on the edges of the group watching as Allison opened her presents from her family back home as well as the adults from the institute. Her final present came from Mark who'd never moved further away than her elbow the entire time. He handed her a carefully wrapped flat present which she tore into eagerly. Pulling away the paper, she revealed her junior yearbook and flipping through it she saw that Mark had collected signatures and notes from all of her friends in her absence. "Thank you," she sighed turning and wrapping her arms tightly around his neck.

He returned the gesture before kissing her gently on the forehead. "No problem," he said grinning. Dance music began to pump into the room and Mark playfully took Allison's hand and led her away from the table as she struggled to at least set her yearbook down. Finally, she managed to get the book to balance on the edge of the table before she was dragged out to dance to the starting strains of P!nk's "Get this Party Started".

Allison kept looking around trying to spot Sam but he seemed to be eluding her or as was far more likely, she was too distracted by the gyrating bodies surrounding her. Soon, she found herself fully encircled by Mark's arms who was easily keeping Ray and his playful attempts to cut in at bay.

Meanwhile, Sam stood by the small pile of presents and flipped through Allison's yearbook glancing over the notes and studying the pictures. She seemed to be incredibly popular at her old school as there were very few people who hadn't signed the yearbook with some kind of personal not or inside joke. Sam paused when he reached a picture of Mark and Allison on the sidelines of a football game. It was the same picture Allison had framed in her room upstairs. Mark had signed here and written simply, "Best Friends Forever, All My Love, Mark". Sam snapped the book shut and sighed as he leaned back against the table and watched as his friends were having fun dancing together. Mark was leading Allison away from the dance floor and towards the balcony and suddenly Sam could feel in the pit of his stomach that his window of opportunity had closed.

* * *

><p>Allison had been dancing for quite a while when Mark had managed to pull her aside and out onto the balcony alone. For once, everyone's attention did not seem to follow them as there was far too much happening inside the ballroom. "Al, I was wondering if you'd given it any more thought."<p>

She glanced down at the ground between them and shook her head. "Problem is I've probably given it too much thought," she sighed. "I know I care about you, but to a point, it doesn't quite feel right either. I'm sorry," she said finally looking up to catch the slightly disheartened look in his eyes. "Please, don't be upset. It's just that I'm not ready for something else to change on me again. I like knowing that there are certain things I can count on. Like you always being my friend."

"And that wouldn't change, Al, I swear."

She gave him a weak smile and shook her head. "You can't promise that. Remember, I'm the one who's been there when all of your other relationships have gone south. It's a small school, Mark. And you manage to avoid those girls like the plague. I don't want that to happen to us."

He sighed as he reached over and picked up one of her hands in his. "You make it tough for a guy to be mad at you, you know that?"

"I can imagine," she replied meeting his gaze as she tilted her head slightly. "And I think one day you'll find the right girl. I just don't think that I'm her." She leaned forward and kissed him gently on the lips as he sighed, his warm breath floating over her cheeks.

It deepened for a moment before they parted and he pressed his forehead to hers. "I really wish you were though," he sighed as he opened his eyes to find her steel green eyes gazing back at him. "But I have the feeling it's that I'm not the right guy for you."

"Nonsense," Allison laughed. "There is no right guy for me. I have no type."

Mark smirked for a moment and shook his head. "Sam seems like a pretty good guy."

"He is. But I don't know why you're bringing him up." Mark held her gaze captive for several long beats and her jaw dropped slowly. "Oh no, you've got that all wrong. We're friends."

"He likes you a lot. I can tell and I've only known him a few days. And I've never seen you act so strangely around a guy before in your life."

"I do not act strange around him," Allison said taking a step back as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Mark just smirked and leaned back against the balcony railing as he gazed heavenward for a moment, as if asking for the patience necessary to speak to Allison at times. "You can't seem to get close enough to him. Me, you can't seem to work out the right distance. I shoulda known right away," he said looking back at her as she settled against the railing next to him. "You really look up to him for some reason that I can't place my finger on yet. I'd give anything for you to look at me that way."

"Mark..."

"Don't," he said holding up a hand as he sighed. "I'm not mad. I'm just realizing how blind I was being. Just promise me you won't screw this up, Al. I want you to be happy." He leaned down and kissed her gently on the cheek before walking away.

Allison leaned back against the bannister and watched as Mark went back inside to the party. She sighed heavily pressing a hand to her forehead as she tried to figure out what she was going to say to him tomorrow when he left. She could still feel the gentle pressure of his lips against her cheek and while it had been nice it had just...left her wanting. Somehow it hadn't been enough.

Through the glass doors she could see everyone inside, her friends laughing, smiling, and dancing. She could see in one corner that Bobby was flirting with Jubilee while Amara stood by rolling her eyes. She was surprised to see that Sam wasn't right there as well. Usually, Sam and Bobby seemed so inseparable that she furrowed her brows in confusion as she quickly glanced around the rest of the party trying to spot the tall blonde. The only one she could spot was Mark.

She frowned when she couldn't find him and turned to look out over the grounds. In the distance, she could make out Sam walking towards the gazebo that was situated on the edge of the cliff. She took off after him at a quick pace determined to make up the ground between them. All the while she kept contemplating why her kiss with Mark hadn't seemed quite right. Perhaps she'd been forced to watch too many chick flicks with Kelly that she was expecting some kind of literal spark when no such thing existed.

He was almost to the gazebo when she caught up with him and fell into step beside him. "So why aren't you at the party?" she asked.

"Ah should be askin' you that," he countered turning to look at her. "But Ah doubt ya'd give meh a straight answer."

"No, I will," she said smiling. "I went to go find a dance partner and realized that my newest best friend was missing."

"Ah jus' didn' wanna get in the way of you an' yo' boyfriend," he said as his gaze fell to his feet. He sighed when his words had come out rather harsh and looked up to see that she was looking confused and hurt. "Ah saw ya kissin'."

They'd reached the gazebo and Sam sat down, his hands tucked between his knees and Allison sat down beside him, angled slightly towards him. "I don't know what Mark and I are," she admitted. "This dating thing isn't really something I've ever done before and it just doesn't seem right with him. I know too much about him. All of his little quirks would eventually drive me nuts, whereas now I can just laugh them off." She wrinkled her nose as she imagined some of his worse habits and closed her eyes as she shook her head. "Besides, now he's kinda far away."

"So you ain't gonna date 'im?" Sam asked as his brows rose up.

Allison just shook her head in the negative. "So, can I get that dance?" she asked standing up and offering him a hand.

He took it and once he was standing, he twirled her easily under his arm. Or at least for him it was easy as Allison quickly tripped over her own two feet causing Sam to quickly grab her around the waist and pull her to stand up straight again. "I'm not very good at this," she said laughing a little as they were now practically nose to nose.

"Meh neither."

"I guess it's a good thing we're all the way out here where no one can see us then," she teased as he eased her back from him a little.

Sam still held her one hand as he allowed the other to rest easily on her hip and she brought hers up to rest on the back of his neck. He took the first slow, shuffling steps and she followed his lead as he directed them in a slow circle. After a few moments, he tried twirling her again and caught her with a hand at the small of her back before she could stumble again.

Again, their faces were so close that their noses practically touched and without thinking, Allison leaned in and kissed him. At first he was too shocked to respond, his eyes snapping open wide with his surprise. He dropped her hand and wrapped his arms around her waist afraid that she might pull away before he could even fully register what it felt like to have her lips against his own.

When they did part, they became aware of the drumming of rain falling on the gazebo roof above them. They were both looking up and Allison began to laugh lightly more so out of relief than anything else. She hadn't been crazy and she hadn't been imagining it. There really was a 'spark' when the kiss was right. "So that's what it's supposed to feel like," she said as her eyes drifted back down to him.

Sam met her gaze and couldn't help but notice just how bright green her eyes had turned. "An' how's that?"

"Like every chick flick claims it should," she said still laughing a little but now at her inability to express herself well. "Like fireworks...or crack. Maybe both."

The rain slowed as they stood there in silence and Sam reached up to gently brush back her long curls. He kissed her again and the rain began to come down in torrents as their kiss deepened. They parted and Allison's cheeks were flushed as she tried to get her heart rate to slow. Sam grinned, his breathing still a little off-kilter. "Ah'm fairly certain that was better'n flyin'."

"That I wouldn't know," Allison said returning his smile. "But I think I'm making it rain." Her cheeks turned a darker shade of pink as they looked outside the gazebo to see the rain slow again. But they could also see now that everywhere else still looked dry despite the gray skies overhead that had been threatening rain. Sam pulled her into a tight hug as they both laughed.

* * *

><p>Allison and Sam returned to the party with farm more notice than she'd managed to slip away from the party with. She hesitated at the door as Betsy, Kitty and Mark's gazes all leveled on her seemingly instantaneously. She swallowed as she felt Sam gently squeeze her hand and pull her forward. She did her best to gather her courage over the next several steps as they walked towards their friends who were now definitely all watching them return as a couple.<p>

"Where have you been?" Kitty asked, furtively glancing at Sam who was now standing elbow to elbow with Allison. "We've been looking for you so we could cut the cake."

"Just went for a walk, didn't you, Luv," Betsy offered with a wink as she placed a hand on Kitty's shoulder and spun the petite girl away for a moment.

Kitty, however, would not be diverted. She twisted under Betsy's arm so that she was facing Allison and Sam once again. "So what happened? Did you choose?" Kitty asked and Allison held a hand up over her face attempting to hide the bright pink blush in her cheeks as Kitty squealed. "You did, didn't you!" One quick glance at Sam and Kitty had her answer as to whom because Sam also had color rising up in his cheeks.

"Kitty, shush..." Allison pleaded, motioning with her hands for her to keep her voice down as she glanced about to see that Kitty was unfortunately doing a fantastic job of attracting attention to their little corner of the room. She met Mark's gaze over the heads of the other students and he gave her a wane smile and she sighed. It wasn't exactly how she'd wanted to deal with the situation. Then again, she should have been getting used to things changing on her too quickly for her to have any influence. She gave Mark what she hoped was an apologetic smile in return before she was distracted by the sound of singing.

Betsy had been busy lighting the candles of the cake and her singing had caused attentions to shift as the others in the room joined her. Sam gently nudged Allison to acknowledge the glowing cake and as the chorus ended, she blew out the candles to applause. Kitty was then back into hostess mode as she began to help Betsy cut the cake and hand out slices to the other students.

Allison just felt lost in the middle of the crowd that was swarming forward to get their share of the cake. Her attention locked on Sam's hand that had found her own again and he squeezed it gently before wrapping his arm around her waist and held her close so that she didn't get bumped and jostled. She kept her head down against his chest and closed her eyes wanting nothing more than to be away from the crowd again and feeling rather silly for coming back to the party. But at the time, she'd wanted to sing and dance and celebrate. Now, she was nervous and felt like she was under a microscope as everyone was watching her, expecting her to be joyous.

Combine that with the fact that she could still feel her powers on the jittery edge from their last kiss. It had been a wild and wonderful sensation that had gone through her like a current of electricity. She peeked up at him through her eyelashes and wondered how she'd not felt like that around him before. Granted, whenever they hung out, she'd always been on a buzz of energy as if she were akin to the Energizer Bunny. Mark had seen what she could not. She was a different person around Sam. She was happier around him even under all of her current nervousness, she was happy to be tucked against his warm chest.

"Dance with me," she said lifting her head slightly and ignoring the plates of cake that were being passed around them.

"Al..."

"Please?" she begged with a slight pout on her lips. "I'm feeling claustrophobic."

He let out an exacerbated puff of a laugh before pulling her free of all their friends, ignoring the catcalls from the other guys as he allowed her to wrap her arms around his neck and lean against his shoulder. He couldn't help but notice that Mark was watching them closely before finally getting distracted Betsy shoving a piece of cake into his hands. Sam gazed down at the top of Allison's head and gently ran his fingers through her hair. "Are ya okay?" he asked softly lowering his lips down near her ear.

She licked her dry lips before glancing up at him and shook her head gently in the negative. "I'm nervous," she admitted. "I feel like everyone's been watching us since we came back and my powers are still on edge which is helping absolutely nothing."

"We could leave again if ya want. Get ya as much air as ya want outside," he offered trailing his fingers down along her jawline. her eyes closed at his touch before fluttering back open. She nodded feebly and allowed him to lead her back outside to the balcony. She leaned against the railing, her eyes closed as she finally allowed herself to breath in and out deeply. Sam hesitantly stood a few feet back before moving to stand at her side and placed a hand on her back. The sky was still rather bleak looking as he leaned forward onto an elbow to gaze at her face. "Al?"

"Hm?" She kept her eyes closed as she made the soft noise low in her throat and leaned into him slightly.

"Feeling any better?" he asked wrapping an arm around her shoulders until her head was pressed in against his own shoulder and neck.

"A little," she sighed opening her eyes to meet his concerned gaze. She leaned forward sealing her lips against his and he gently pulled her into him as the kiss deepened. Rain drops started to fall heavily against them but neither seemed to care as it began to fall steadily. Once they parted Allison looked up at the dark clouds overhead and closed her eyes as the rain fell against her skin, cooling her flushed cheeks.

"Ah think Ah get why ya like the rain," Sam said watching her in amusement.

"Oh?" She turned her gaze back down to him again before shifting out of his arms so that she could perch herself on the railing to sit. She pulled him by his hand so that he stood in front of her, his back to the glass doors that were starting to crowed with curious classmates. With him standing in front of her it was easier for her to pretend they were alone.

He stood between her knees, her feet wrapped around to rest at the back of his calves in a loose grip and he held both of her hands, letting her thrumbs brush lazily across the calloused skin of his palms. "Yeah. It seems ta fall fo' ya. Jus' like meh."

"That's so corny," she teased tilting her head at a playful angle as she considered his sincerity. He just smiled and shrugged before leaning down to kiss her again. They parted slowly as Allison wrapped an arm around his neck to hold him still. "Granted, being with you makes me feel like I can completely cut loose," she said raising and dropping one shoulder. She smiled as she pressed her forehead against his. "Thank you."

"Fo'?" Sam asked raising an eyebrow and the movement caused Allison's brow to wrinkle as well and she laughed.

"For coming out here and getting wet with me."

"Ah coulda asked ya ta keep meh dry if Ah was really worried 'bout it. But Ah ain't. Ah really don' mind. Ah'm jus' glad yo' happy," he said running his fingers back through her hair again as he kissed her.


	12. Starting School

**Cheyy: **No, no, no...if you're dead you can't read and review! Please let this chappie serve as resuscitation!**  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>FYI:<strong>  
>I do not own the X-Men. But, on occasion, I'll pick up one of their comics to read. Scratch that. My fiance buys the comics. I then steal his.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 12: Starting School<br>**

Allison hugged Mark tightly, smiling as his strong arms wrapped around her waist to easily lift her up into his bear hug. "Give 'em hell for me," she said as he set her back down. "I'd hate to find out that I left and our football team fell apart."

"Don't worry. We'll make you proud," he said grinning down at her as he placed a hand on her cheek and gently tilted her face up so he could gaze down into her pale green eyes. "He seems like a nice guy," Mark added without any kind of transition whatsoever.

"Hmm?" Allison said feeling a little bit confused by his change in topic.

"That Sam guy. He seems really nice."

"Oh." Her smile fell slightly as her cheeks tinged pink.

"Look, I get it. I've been turned down enough times before," Mark joked giving her cheek a playful tap. "And at worse times too."

"I didn't want you to find out that way...I...I don't know what I'm doing to be honest," she sighed as she rubbed her hand across her forehead. "Things just happened really fast and I swear I can't get a moment's peace or privacy at this place to save my life."

She looked back up at him to see that he was smiling kindly. "Hey it's cool. Just don't think you're getting off the hook with writing, hero," he said with a wink at the last word.

Her eyebrows shot up in surprise and she stepped back and crossed her arms tightly over her chest. "What are you talking about?"

Mark indicated to the group of people who had gathered at the mansion's front door in their not to subtle spying. "They told me about your heroics-how you saved Sam and Bobby."

"I'm no hero, far from it," she argued glancing over her shoulder and shooting a glare at the other students who seemed hardly phased by the look.

"Sure thing, Al," Mark said condescendingly and it ate at Allison even more as she whipped around to glare at him.

"Look, get outta here before I have to beat it into your skull," she threatened and he only threw his hands up in defeat before turning and climbing into his truck. Allison allowed herself to relax a little and smiled. "Drive safe, okay?"

"Always," he replied leaning through the open window slightly. "You do me a favor though a live safe. You're not invulnerable, ya know?"

Allison just shrugged in response as she smirked. "Maybe, maybe not." He put the truck into gear and it jerked before moving down the drive as she waved goodbye to him via the side mirror. Finally she sighed as she wrapped her arms around her chest and hugged herself. A part of her felt bad for turning Mark down but she was glad that he handled it well. Now all she needed to do was figure out how to work out these new developments between her and Sam.

She turned to look back up at the front door and there was a flurry of motion as everyone scattered trying to not be the last person standing there when she came back inside. Allison just sighed when she saw that Jamie had tripped and fallen causing himself to replicate all over the foyer.

* * *

><p>The last few days had passed quickly and the first day of school was upon them before they knew it. Allison had barely dragged herself through training that morning and she was really struggling now as she tried to get ready for school. She was already developing a strong preference for Logan's trainings as opposed to Scott and Jean's. There was a distinct difference: one involved blowing stuff up; the other involved getting blown up. She swore that the prior students were determined to see herself and her classmates suffer bodily injury as their trainings had grown more and more intense.<p>

She ran water into the sink and watched as the sink slowly filled as she tipped a soap dispenser over it and watched as the water formed a heavy foam across the surface along with a dense steam. She plunged her hands in, letting the warmth tingle at her extremities before splashing it across her face. She reached over and grabbed a clean washcloth and dunked it beneath the water's surface allowing it to soak before scrubbing her face carefully. The mirror was beginning to steam over slightly and Allison sighed as she leaned forward and wiped it clear so that she could see her face again. For a moment, there was a flicker of blue in her eyes and she stepped back startled before looking closer again to see that her eyes were their now usual shade of steel green. She just frowned at herself in the mirror before letting the water out of the sink and quickly rinsed the washcloth out and rinsed her face with cool water. She shook her hands over the sink before patting them dry on a nearby towel and quickly left the bathroom to get dressed and ready for the rest of her day.

Now that school had returned, those that had already graduated high school had a later training in the morning. The wonder of college and being able to start your day at noon if you so chose. Allison just sighed as she listened to her roommate snore as she ran a brush through her wet hair and reminded herself that she only had one more year of high school herself. And then it would be time to finally decide what the hell to do with the rest of her life. With a grim smile she looked into the mirror at her reflection and promised herself that she'd make the most of her remaining high school career and pulled her hair back into a ponytail.

She was about to throw a hoodie on over her babydoll tee and jeans and paused reminding herself that Kitty had sworn she wouldn't be allowed to leave the institute wearing a hoodie today. In fact, Kitty had promised to bury her truck up to its axles if she came out wearing a hoodie. With a sigh, she tossed the sweatshirt over her vanity chair and looked nervously into the mirror again. her hair hung in damp curls from her ponytail and she was wearing a pair of dark stained jeans and pale green t-shirt. Once again, her tall frame and curves made it nearly impossible for the shirt to reach the top of her pants. She grabbed her backpack and tugged at her shirt as she left the room wondering if she could stretch it out by the time she got to school.

Walking into the kitchen, she waved a hand around her head and he hair dried almost immediately as she made another flick of her wrist to send the retrieved water droplets into the sink. She stood by the counter watching the chaos that unfolded before her and it made every other morning she'd spent at the institute look tame by comparison. It was as if everyone had forgotten how to get ready for school. Some of the girls were still trying to do their hair or make up at the table while the boys were just now realizing that they were several vehicles short this year when it came to getting a ride to school. Apparently, everyone who'd driven to school last year had graduated.

She decided to put together a breakfast for on the run and she began looking for toast and realized that Ray was walking around the kitchen carrying the toaster as he provided a current to continuously provide toasted bread and bagels for every outstretched hand, including all ten of Jamie's. She watched as Kitty walked straight down the middle of the table through plates of food in her search for the cinnamon sugar blend and Kurt was hanging upside down from a chandelier in order to steal the sausage links. Apparently Kurt must have enjoyed the chaos if he was choosing to eat with the rest of them when he didn't even have to be out of bed yet.

Allison was surprised to find herself being spun around and a breakfast sandwich that had already been wrapped in a paper towel was being pressed into her hands. "Le's get outta here," Sam said nodding to the door. "Ah'm fairly certain ya don' wanna be here when they realize they're late an' stampede." He already had his bag slung over his shoulder and a sandwich in his own hand.

Allison hitched her bag higher up onto her shoulder and grinned as she followed him out to the garage. She was a little surprised to see that Kitty had beaten them down there and was already waiting as she sat on the front hood of Allison's truck. She grinned as she straightened and slid down so that her feet found the ground again. The brunette continued to grin broadly as she held her hand up and let a set of keys dangle down catching the morning light. "You totally forgot these."

"You got those off my dresser?" Allison asked as she began frantically checking her pockets and realized that she must have forgotten her keys in her rush to get dressed.

Kitty just shrugged and playfully jangled the keys again. "So, can I drive?"

"No," Sam and Allison said in chorus causing Kitty to pout as she climbed into the middle of the bench seat as Sam took shotgun. Allison held out her hand expectantly as she climbed in behind the wheel and Kitty reluctantly turned over the keys.

They were just pulling out of the garage when a deluge of students started to pour out of the front door. Ray, Roberto, and Bobby lost no time whatsoever chasing after the still slow moving truck and hoping into the bed as Amara and Jubilee burst out through the front door next. Allison sighed as she put the truck into park and the girls began to grin broadly and stick their tongues out at the boys as they climbed in as well. Allison just leaned out of her driver's side window and watched and waited as the other students all came out the front door in a dead sprint afraid of getting left behind. Soon, Danielle, Rahne, Jamie, and Sarah had all climbed into the back as well and Allison shifted the truck back into the drive and pulled away as quickly as she dared before any of the adults could admonish the form of transportation to school.

"This is so much cooler than Scott's car," Ray declared as he leaned back and spread his arms out across Amara and Rhane's shoulders.

"Definitely," Jamie chimed in as they passed through the institute's gates. "We all get to ride now." Allison dared a quick glance through the back window and grinned to see that all of her classmates were lined up along the bed and seated either cross-legged or with their knees drawn up to their chins with a huge stack of book bags in the center.

"You think they realize that they need another way home?" Sam asked as he leaned slightly onto his elbow. "We do have football practice."

"What?" Kitty whined her head whipping around to look at Allison who only shrugged as she did her best not to start laughing at her friend's reaction to what should have been obvious before.

* * *

><p>Once at the high school, all of the students scattered in different directions and Allison sighed as she waved goodbye to them as she headed in the entirely opposite direction to the front office. For the first day of school, the office was strangely empty but the counter was covered from one end to the other in papers and Allison curiously looked down to see that they were homeroom and locker assignments for new students. She quickly walked the length of the counter and found her name at the end and left before she had to come face to face with Principal Kelly again. She still had occasional shudders that shot down her spine whenever she remembered her first and only experience with the man.<p>

She found her locker with some ease thanks to knowing the corridors after coming to the high school for several weeks for football practices. She teased the lock open and let it hang as she opened the locker and dumped her empty book bag inside. She sniffed experimentally and sighed in relief that it didn't smell of old gym clothes and socks. She did make a face as she picked up a dead fly by the wing and flicked it away down the hall before stabbing a pencil through her ponytail and closed her locker back up.

Glancing around to see if she recognized anyone else on her 'block', she was disappointed to find that none of the other students from the institute seemed to have their locker anywhere nearby. She shrugged to herself as she looked back down at the sheet of paper in her hand for her homeroom classroom and took off down the hall at a quick pace, ducking and dodging between other students who all seemed to have a better sense of where they were going.

Her homeroom was only about a hundred feet from her locker and she ducked inside the door and out of the crushing mob that filled the halls. She found that nearly every desk had already been claimed and she settled into one that was along the far wall near a window and leaned back with her eyes closed as she waited for either the bell to ring or for her homeroom teacher to appear. Finally, curiosity got the best of her and she peeked an eye open to watch as her classmates moved about the room in a flurry of excitement as they greeted and teased one another. She felt even more alone as she wondered whether or not her friends had homeroom or classes together.

The bell rang and her homeroom teacher finally arrived nigh simultaneously, his arms nearly spilling a pile of papers that were their schedules for the year. Somehow, he managed to get his briefcase to land on the desk, and the papers generally followed, but a few managed to catch a draft and scooted across the floor before the petite blonde girl seated in front of Allison leaned over and picked them up. She tapped them so that their edges were aligned before holding them out with a kind smile for the teacher to take back. He smiled gratefully as he took them and straightened them out with the others. "Thank you, Kaitlyn," he murmured as he flipped through them and glanced around the room quickly assessing if he could remember everyone's name.

There was a buzz of static as the loudspeaker came to life and Principal Kelly's voice crackled throughout the school. Allison's entire homeroom paid no attention to his speech about starting the school year off on the right foot and with the right attitude and hopes that there would be no incidents this time. They were all too busy listening for their names and shooting their hands into the air so that they could get their schedules before quickly starting to compare them with the girls and boys seated around them. Allison received hers last and frowned down at the course load that she'd be taking. The words ambitious and challenging came to mind.

Kaitlyn turned, tucking strands of blonde hair back behind her ear and smiled at Allison. "You're new, right?"

"How'd you guess?" Allison sighed forcing a smile as she propped her head up on her hand.

"I looked like you about two years ago," she said holding her hand out. "I'm Kaitlyn."

"Allison," she replied taking the girl's hand and giving it a light shake.

Kaitlyn snuck a quick glance down at Allison's schedule and smiled again warmly. "We have first period together. Don't worry, it might be AP English but Ms. Abrahms is super cool. And it's double luck to have her first period. She very rarely ever makes it to school on time so she'll probably be giving someone in our class her spare key so that we can let ourselves in and make ourselves look busy in her absence."

"That actually works?" Allison asked raising an eyebrow and Kaitlyn grinned and nodded.

"She has her room set up backwards. So even if Principal Kelly walks by, he'd have to actually come inside before he noticed she was missing. And normally, if he's in the hall, he's too preoccupied to be checking up on the teachers."

* * *

><p>Allison was feeling pretty good about Bayville High by the time lunch rolled around. She found herself in the company of Rose McGowan who was leading the way to the cafeteria. The girl was slim and tall, much like how Allison would picture a fairy or elf to look in real life. Her dark hair was cropped short, spiking out about her ears. "It kinda sucks that your mom made you switch just for your senior year. I think I'd die if I had to do that."<p>

Allison just shrugged in nonchalance. She'd been using a lie about the fact that her mother's work required her to be out of town for most of the year. It's not like anyone in this school was going to find out that her mother actually owned her own business and very, very rarely ever traveled. "I don't really mind. My old school was out in the middle of nowhere. So it's kind of nice to come someplace with a population greater than five hundred," she laughed. "Now I won't be so shell-shocked when I got college."

"Still, you must miss your friends, right?"

"Definitely," Allison said nodding as she thought about Kelly and even Mark despite the awkwardness that had ensued the week before. "But I've made a lot of new ones here too," she said. "For instance, not every guy on the football team is an idiot." She laughed as she glanced sideways to see that three of her teammates were leaning against the wall attempting to woo some of the cheerleaders.

"Wait, wait, wait," Rose said stopping short as she spun on her heel to face Allison causing them to collide as Allison reached out to catch Rose's arm to keep her slender frame upright. "You're a cheerleader?" she asked looking Allison up and down as if this were some type of offense to humanity.

"No," Allison snorted shaking her head. "I'm on the football team. I'm the new starting kicker."

Rose's eyes went wide with surprise and then she grinned broadly. "Oh my God, you're _that_ girl! I'd heard a few rumors circulating this morning but I didn't really believe them. I seriously thought our football team was going to be screwed this year. Ren is horrible. So thank goodness you showed up. You have to be at least ten times better than he is."

Allison just smirked in response and Rose grinned as they fell back into step towards the cafeteria. Allison followed her into line as they pulled trays and began to select something to eat. Allison grabbed a sandwich made from questionable meat content and dug through her pockets trying to find her money as Rose began to talk again. "I was seriously worried though that you were a cheerleader. Our school wrote the stereotype. Those girls make tryouts into something out of a horror film," she said rolling her eyes. "I actually felt bad for the girl who tried out last year. But I suppose, they got what they deserved when she blew up their pom poms."

"I personally have always found the liberal use of firecrackers to be an appropriate response to cheerleaders," Allison joked as they stepped out into the huge cafeteria and Rose wound her way around the many round tables.

"Oh, they weren't firecrackers," Rose warned. "The girl was a mutant. Bayville seems to have more than their fair share of those so you have to be careful."

"Oh," was all Allison could think to say in response as she hesitated for a moment before quickening her step to keep up with Rose.

Finally Rose, sat her lunch tray down at a table and smiled at a group of girls as Allison approached. "Everyone, this is Allison. Allison, everyone," Rose said with a flourish of her hands.

Allison waved awkwardly before setting her own tray down as she followed Rose's lead and sat down. "Hi." She smiled grateful to see that most of the girls she recognized at least from in passing in her morning classes and Kaitlyn was also there from her homeroom. The girls quickly introduced themselves better and Allison did her best to process their names and features so that she wouldn't embarrass herself later by forgetting. Patricia was a full figured red head and Sandra was of average build, excessively well endowed, and had dirty blonde hair that hung to her shoulders.

They had just finished introducing themselves and were laughing to hear that Allison was going to be the girl benching Ren at Friday night's game when a tall, skinny boy sat down at the last free chair at their table. He dumped a tall stack of textbooks into the center of the table and Allison raised an eyebrow as she peered around the stack at him. All of the girls looked less than pleased by his abrupt appearance as they all fell silent and seemed completely unwilling to bring him in on their merriment. "This is a total disaster," the boy moaned. "They're going to cut first period choir for lack of interest. I'm going to have to pick something else to take instead."

"That does sound like a disaster," Allison said as she used a single finger to tip the topmost book sliding down off the stack into the boy's lap. "But not nearly so terrible as not getting assigned a locker! How could they manage an oversight like that?" she asked tipping the next book down and the boy scrambled to catch it before it could hit the floor. "My name's Allison," she said as soon as she no longer had to strain to look over the stack to see him. The boy just glared at her from under his dark brown hair that hung messily and looked like it hadn't seen a professional barber since middle school. "This is the part where you tell me your name."

The girls were nearly in a riot of giggles as they all did their best to suppress their laughter as Allison tipped a third book down off the stack. "Justin," came the dour response. "And why are you shoving my books around?"

"Because with them in the way I can't see your, er, pretty face," she replied without breaking the smirk that had crossed her face from the very beginning of this conversation. He self-consciously reached up and covered his acne covered cheek with his hand. "But seriously, if you need help figuring out how to open your locker, I'm sure any one of these girls would be more than happy to help. Especially if it meant more room for their milk cartons."

"I do not need help," he all but seethed.

"So, what's the problem?" she asked resting her elbow on the table and propping her head up.

"I-I was in a hurry. I was trying to catch up to Sandra but she was moving too quickly."

"Perhaps Sandra didn't see you?" Allison suggested glancing at Sandra who laughed and shook her head.

"Not at all," Sandra said in a most insincere voice. "How could I miss you stalking me for the fourth year in a row?" The boy blanched and stood up retrieving his last book from the table. The girls all smiled and waved as he swallowed and disappeared. Sandra gave a sigh of relief before turning to Allison. "I cannot thank you enough. That guy has been a pain in my side since forever. I can't seem to shake him and you did it in a record of five minutes."

"I believe it was closer to three," Patricia joked and the girls broke out into a fresh chorus of laughter.


	13. So Lois Lane's in Elementary School

**Cheyy: **I'm sorry you got confused. I was trying to fluff out that Allison was making friends quickly and probably didn't give enough time to the scene. Don't worry about Justin, you'll never hear of him again. He was literally a fluffing tool. And apparently a failed one at that.**  
><strong>

**FYI:**  
>I do not own the X-Men, <em>however<em>, I own Allison. *Cracks Knuckles* After a fluffy chapter, it's about time she got busy turning the world upside down again.

**Author's Note:**

This story is just one of many to take place in my own little AU that will eventually tie the Marvel and DC universes together in what I will lovingly call Earth-WTF? What really stinks is I had this fantastic speech written for Allison. She was going to go and on making DC references and get all of this additional awe factor but then I realized something. While she makes this speech, Clark Kent will only be in third grade and Lois Lane would be in fourth. So, um, oops? Call in the re-write team in the middle of the night and try and figure out what the hell to do to get that wow factor back. I went through quite a few candidates in my mind. Mostly silver age DC characters and then realized that none of them had famous girlfriends. Same thing with the Avengers too. This led to a huge problem in my writing. So, in the end...

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 13: If Only Lois Lane Wasn't Currently in Elementary School...So Pepper Potts will just have to do. <strong>

Allison watched Justin's retreat while smiling in the warmth of the laughter that surrounded her. She had her head resting easily in the flat of her hand, her eyes flickering about the table to take in the smiles of the girls she'd just met today. It was as if they'd been friends all along and she was grateful to not feel like an awkward wall flower. Sandra still couldn't get over the fact that her long time stalker had finally taken a hint from a girl she'd only just met in third period history.

Unfortunately for Allison, she wasn't able to hide her blush fast enough when she spotted Sam walking in the direction of their table. All of the girls noticed in turn as their laughter started to come down from a boil to a simmer and they turned to follow Allison's gaze one-by-one. He had a book under his arm and was trying to balance a tray in the other hand, and he looked like he was about to drop one or the other in his attempt to wave to Allison. "Hey," she said as she gazed up at him from her seated position and then bit her lower lip. _How lame_, she thought realizing that the other girls were watching her and waiting for reaction to set the tone.

"Hey yo'self. Ah jus' heard that coach is makin' us go fo' a run taday. Ah guess Ah should say the real message was 'no pads necessary'." Sam's eyes flickered over the group of girls who'd mostly sobered at his appearance, although Sandra and Patricia were still wearing wide grins as they smiled up at him and even batted their eyelashes a little.

"Yep, that spells a run," Allison sighed before smiling. "At least it gives us a really good excuse to ignore some of the more annoying linebackers."

"Incredibly true," Sam said laughing as his attention was riveted back to her before slowly turning a shade of pink. "Ah'm sorry, Ah'll let ya eat with yo' friends," he added while indicating their audience with a nod of his head.

"Oh...okay," Allison said hesitantly and then followed his gaze to where some of the other kids from the institute were sitting. A small part of her felt like a traitor for not sitting with them instead.

"See ya," Sam said with another awkward half wave with the hand burdened by the textbook.

When Allison swiveled back around to face the table again the girls were all grinning incredibly broadly with the exception of Kaitlyn. "He's cute," Sandra commented as her eyes followed Sam across the room.

"But isn't he one of the, you know, mutants?" Kaitlyn asked in a hushed voice that was almost lost in the low din of the cafeteria. But both Rose and Allison managed to hear her anyway. Rose's gaze also followed Sam as he made his way to sit down with Kitty, Bobby, and the others.

Rose sighed as she reached over and placed her hand on Allison's forearm in what was meant to be a comforting manner and smiled. "Remember those mutants I mentioned earlier? I don't know if you know this already, but he's one of them. You should be careful," Rose warned.

Allison jerkily pulled her arm back as she looked at Rose. "I actually did know. And I don't care. He's a really nice, sweet guy. And I know he wouldn't do a thing to hurt me, not for anything." The girls all exchanged looks with one another as if she were a naive child and would eventually learn for herself the wisdom they were trying to impart on her now. "You think I'm stupid, don't you?" Allison said standing up and grabbed her textbook and tray. She snorted and shook her head. "Well, you guys are the ones missing out. The world would be a better place if more people were like Sam Guthrie. There's nothing wring with being a mutant. If anything, they have to make choices you don't even think about in your wildest dreams." She paused licking her lips before glancing towards the table of her friends from the institute before looking back down at the girls before her. "And the fact that I actually know someone who saved the planet? Damn. And yet you're sitting here trying to tell me to be careful. The only thing I have to be careful of is making sure some other girl doesn't come in and try to snatch him up from under my nose. I get to feel like friggin' Pepper Potts when I'm with him."

She had managed to garner the attention of a heavy proportion of the cafeteria and she turned on her heel and walked straight to the trash can and dumped the contents of her tray before heading for the exit. Someone shouted out "Mutie lover!" and Allison turned to look back to see a plum aimed at her head.

She caught it easily and lofted it into the nearby trash can. "Anymore trash someone would like me to throw out for them?" she asked loud enough for everyone to hear and a hush fell over the cafeteria. "I didn't think so," she snapped before leaving the room and slammed the door shut behind her.

Sam could feel his face burning as he forced himself to stare into his tray of food. "Dude," Bobby said leaning over, "Did she just compare you to Iron Man?"

Sam just nodded weakly and Kitty squealed as she clapped her hands together. "I knew she liked you!"

Ray was leaning back in his chair and gazing at the now closed door thoughtfully. "She didn't really give any of us credit though. I mean, I nearly got myself killed too," he said playfully pouting as Amara rolled her eyes.

"Really? That's the only thing you picked up on?" Amara asked. "How about the part where she called out our entire school for being prejudiced."

Tabitha quickly sat down at the table and stretched out her long legs before giving Sam a gentle elbow in the ribs. "I really dig your girlfriend, Sammy. She's a keeper." She gave him a playful wink and he seemed to snap out of his trance as he blinked at her. "I'm definitely giving her some props for laying her claim over you so quickly. Just when I was considering making a move and everything." She picked up her milk and began to drink as if she'd said nothing of consequence while every other girl at the table just stared at her with wide eyes. "What? He's cute. I mean, I wouldn't go so far as to call him Iron Man or nothing, but still..."

"Ah'm still sittin' here," Sam muttered looking at the girls in turn and they gave him sheepish smiles in return.

"Yeah, why is that?" Bobby asked before taking a sip of his milk. "Shouldn't you have gone running after her or something to make sure she didn't get beat up in the hall, Iron Man?"

Sam stood up slowly and could feel the eyes of every student in Bayville turn on him. Meanwhile the girls continued to talk oblivious to Sam's departure. "Seriously, Tabby?"

"Well, yeah...but the real reason I came over is I wanted to ask if it'd be cool if I could move back in."

Sam shook his head at the girls prattle before taking a deep breath and slowly exiting the cafeteria and as soon as he was through the door, the room erupted into noise.

He eventually found Allison leaning back against his locker as she hugged her textbook to her chest. she looked up once he was more or less standing at her elbow and gave him a tiny smile before it fell. "Sorry," she murmured. "I didn't mean to embarrass you."

"Ah do usually handle that pretty well on mah own. Jus' not used ta gettin' help," he joked as she sidestepped away from his locker so that he could put his book away. He slowly peeled her fingers away from the book she was holding in a death grip and dropped it into his locker as well. "Ah'm still tryin' ta decide if what ya did was really brave or really stupid. Ah think the others have all voted on brave, so Ah'm probably gonna agree."

She looked down at her shoes and tapped her toe off the linoleum. "I probably made things worse," she sighed.

"Actually, Ah think ya made ev'ryone in there stop an' think. The professor would probably be really proud."

"What about you?" she asked glancing at him sideways.

He hesitated for a moment and Allison took to staring at her feet again as she leaned back against the lockers. "Are we datin'?" he asked instead of answering her question.

Her eyes flickered up to meet his gaze and she gave him a one shouldered shrug. "I guess. I told you, I'm not good at this."

He leaned down and kissed her quickly on the lips and she stared up at him blinking in surprise. She wasn't sure which surprised her more, the fact that it hadn't rained on them or that he'd even kissed her. "Ah couldn'a asked fo' a better girlfriend," he said brushing back strands of hair from her face. "Ah'm proud ya stood up like that in front of ev'ryone. If they didn' like it, they can take it up with Iron Man," he joked and she smiled in return. "Don' e'er be sorry fo' how ya feel. S'what makes us human still."

"Right," she said still trying to recover from her surprise at his kiss.

* * *

><p>Allison got to her last period class and found the only remaining seat left was in front of Rose. She hesitated before taking it and did her best to not look backwards at the girl. She was hoping to avoid awkward tension but it seemed she'd had nothing but awkward tension with everyone in the school since lunch. And this class seemed to be packed with nothing but some of the more obnoxious football players and apparently all of their cheerleader girlfriends.<p>

"I'm sorry," Rose said softly and Allison looked back over her shoulder to see the girl was gazing down at her desk.

"I'm sorry too," Allison said and after a moment she held her hand out. "Truce?"

Rose nodded and shook her hand and let out a sigh of relief. "I didn't realize you knew...or that you were dating. I knew another girl, Amanda, who graduated last year who was dating one of the kids from that institute too. You remind me a little of her because she hated it when other people got on her case for dating Kurt too."

Allison lowered her gaze a little and considered telling Rose that she was a mutant too but decided that it would be pushing her luck for the day. "You wanna be lab partners?" Allison asked and Rose nodded eagerly. "Great. Because there's not a single other person in this room I would trust to handle chemicals," she joked, a little, a least as much as she could considering that she fully meant that statement.

They got through the brief introductory experiment without any incidents, at least at their bench and now stood side by side washing their glassware. "So, you've know Sam's a mutant then?" Rose asked finally deciding it was safe to venture the topic again. Allison nodded in response as she accepted one of the beakers Rose handed her to dry. "So, what's he do? I mean, is it weird or creepy?"

Allison laughed and shook her head. "He can fly," she said looking up for Rose's expression which was now intrigued. "Really, really fast," she added then and laughed. "It actually scares me to death but luckily he can't get hurt while he's flying."

"I guess that's actually pretty cool, huh? No wonder you like him," Rose joked as she washed another beaker. "A real life superhero for a boyfriend. Not many girls can make that claim." Allison just smirked as she looked down to hide her blush. "So how long have you been dating now?"

"Just a week. But we met pretty much right after I moved here. So we've been hanging out a lot with football practices."

"You two must be unbearably cute for the rest of the football team."

Allison just shrugged. "It's not like we make out at practice," she said blushing.

"You should," Rose suggested causing Allison to blush harder. Allison shot her a horrified look as Rose indicated to their classmates that surrounded them. "Can you imagine how these guys would react? It'd be totally worth any trouble you might get in from your coach."

Allison just shook her head in the negative but inwardly contemplated it. Depending on how long of a run the coach told them to take, she and Sam would have a pretty solid lead on most of the team. "I wouldn't want to jeopardize Sam's chance to start on Friday though. He's really fast and really good. He deserves to start," Allison said softly just in case one of their classmates might have a drastically differing opinion. Mutant or not, Sam was still a junior.

"Well, I'm jealous," Rose declared as she dried her hands and rinsed out the sink. "I spend every single day at school with the guy I like and he's clueless."

"Really?" Allison said raising her eyebrows as she grabbed her book and followed Rose into the hall. She was surprised by how close Rose's locker ended being to her own.

"Yeah, we've had art classes together since he was a freshman and we always share a table. We can talk through the entire period and yet nothing has come of it. And once again, we're back in the same rut," she sighed as she grabbed her backpack.

"Why don't you ask him out?" Allison asked and Rose paused looking up at her. "What? Something simple like going for ice cream after school or to the game Friday night."

"You're right," Rose said closing her locker. "It's my senior year. I either make a move now or never. Thanks."

"No problem," Allison said grinning. "Look, I gotta get going for practice. I'll see you tomorrow," she said waving goodbye as she jogged backwards before taking off at a near sprint towards the gym.

She turned the corner and nearly ran Sam over as he grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her to a stop. "What's the rush?" he asked laughing. "We're gonna run plenty soon."

"I just didn't want to be late," Allison said, her cheeks flushed from the exertion and happiness that Rose wasn't mad at her. Rose reminded her a lot of Kelly and it made her a little less homesick. "That and Rose doesn't hate me," she added. "I guess she just doesn't know how to talk about mutants. Probably no one does. But she understood why I'd gotten upset. So it's all worked out," she said in a rush.

"Ah'm glad," Sam said stealing another brief kiss. "Now le's go put yo' newly founded manic energy ta use."

* * *

><p>Allison was right that she and Sam would be far ahead of the pack by the time they finished their run that afternoon. Meanwhile, he'd told her about the other students from the institute and their reaction to her little speech and she'd shared her afternoon of awkward moments with just about every student at Bayville High. Her lesson learned: apparently no one liked to be called out as a bigot. Allison was having a little trouble swallowing Tabitha's comments to the situation and made a mental note to further assert herself later.<p>

They passed the coach by the bleachers and he waved them off, they were free to go as he turned impatiently to look for the remaining players to come. No one else was even in sight yet from the five mile run. They continued at a jog until they reached the door to the school and walked inside. Passing by the locker rooms, he pulled her in for a quick kiss and then playfully pushed her through the swinging door for the girls' locker room. She glanced back contemplatively but decided against her more rash thoughts as she went in and showered.

As she stood under the warm, running water, she ran her fingers back through her hair brushing out some of the knots now that her hair had been conditioned. Something in the pit of her stomach told her that she'd just missed an opportunity back there with Sam but she shook her head and forcefully dislodged the thought again brushing it off as just Rose's silly suggestion rearing its ugly head. But it was a hard mental image to be rid of.

The silly, irrational part of her brain wondered if Sam was in the shower as well. The boys' locker room and the girls' locker room shared that wall with each other. If he as, he was standing no more than a few feet away from her. There was that strange feeling in the pit of her stomach again and she licked her lips as she rinsed her hair out. She quickly snapped off the water but it didn't shut off. She turned the knob back into its 'on' position again and tried once more with the same failed results. Suddenly the other other three showers in the girls' locker room spat, coughing up air before water began to spout. She jumped even though she knew deep down that she was responsible for it. She left the shower area quickly but the showers did not turn back off and she wrapped a towel around her body as she stared back to watch the steam rising to form a thick fog. Exiting the area, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror to see that her eyes were a bright, shimmering green.

Sam was getting dressed in one of the back sections of the locker room and his ears perked up when he heard the showers start going. He hadn't heard anyone come into the locker room at all and it sounded like every shower was running at once. He finished tying his shoes and walked around the wall to look into the empty shower where every shower head was running. He was about to run in and turn them off when he noticed they were all already in the 'off' position.

He doubled back to grab his duffel bag with his sweaty practice clothes and quickly exited the locker room and found Allison standing in the hallway barely put together herself and looking more than a little spooked. "I couldn't get the showers to turn off," she murmured as her gaze lifted to the locker room doors.

"S'okay," he said placing a hand on her shoulder. "Ah bet with some distance they'll shut off jus' fine." He led her out towards the parking lot and noticed that she kept glancing back over her shoulder as if she was waiting for someone to come after them or perhaps for the water to flood out after them. "Y' okay?"

She shook her head a little and then glanced sideways at him. "I think I scared myself a little. Nothing like that's happened before."

Sam's expression turned a little grim as he gazed down at her studying her closely. "Yo' eyes are really green," he commented.

"Now's really not the time for flattery," she sighed and gave him an exasperated look.

"That ain't what Ah meant, an Ah think ya know that," he said and she started for a moment before picking up her pace a little. "Yo' eyes were that shade when we kissed on yo' birthday too. When ya made it rain without tryin'."

She stopped and turned to stare back at him, her eyes wide and he could see that they were dimming now to her usual shade of steel green. "Really?" He nodded in earnest and she frowned slightly. "Damn," she murmured as she looked down to study the pavement, her eyes flickering side to side a little with thought. "I was hoping that was a one time thing."

His expression grew serious, his lips drawing thin as his mouth shifted to the side slightly. He gently tilted her face up to look at him and he pressed his forehead to hers. "An' if it ain't?"

"It might rain a lot if we keep dating. Or I should say kissing to be more specific."

"So?"

Her gaze lowered as she sighed. "It'll get old, I'm sure."

"Not likely," he said in response before kissing her. This time it wasn't quick like the times before. He held his lips against hers, pressing with the firmness of his teeth until she reacted. She dropped her bag at her feet and wrapped her arms around his neck holding him still as she deepened the kiss and it wasn't long before drops of rain began to fall on their shoulders. They parted and the rain just as quickly stopped leaving them standing in the center of a darkened patch of pavement. "Definitely not going to get old," he said placing another long kiss on her lips.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong>

See what I mean about the pop culture reference? Lois Lane & Superman would have been soo much better. But sadly in my universe they're in friggin' elementary school right now. *Grumbles* Me and my anal OCD tendencies that won't allow me to screw up my own timeline by making a twenty-some-year mistake with a character that will eventually be relatively important in a later story.


	14. Friday Night Lights

**Chey: **Pepper Potts is Tony Stark's (aka Iron Man's) executive assistant. At one point, she was an on again, off again possible love interest. But Tony's identity has typically been "revealed" and thus, she has been dragged into some hair raising adventures due to that. Even when she isn't a love interest, she worries about him constantly.

**Josephine: **They're coming! I promise! In just a few more chappies too. I wanna say three? Rogue, Allison, and Bets will all be roomies after that. But in my next two stories having to do with Allison, they play much larger roles, since they're, uh, there from the beginning and not halfway through. Sam and Remy are also going to have some good ol' bonding time over having girlfriends with "issues". And if you're jonesing some ROMYness, check out "New Beginnings" and "School Daze". There's going to be a third and fourth story in that series that will lead into their entrance in this story and explain how they ended up in New Orleans.

**Author's Note: **I can't believe that in this story alone there's approximately 70,000 more words that I've _already_ written. Those are just random scenes that haven't yet been stitched together properly. Add to that another 40,000 words that have already been written for the sequel. Yes, the magic word: sequel. I'm letting that cat out of the bag now so that I don't end up with a bunch of people who hate me for all that I put Allison through. But don't worry, this is a fun chappie, not a death and destruction kind of chappie. Although, I've got some of those in the works coming up very soon and they're pretty much going to run back to back (to back?).**  
><strong>

**FYI:**  
>I do not own the X-Men. I do however own Allison. Which, in my mind, kinda makes up for some things.<p>

**Chapter 14: Friday Night Lights**

* * *

><p>Allison returned to her room after the danger room training and pulled out her home game jersey for the first time and held it up studying the maroon jersey and after moment's hesitation slipped it on over her head and tucked it loosely into her jeans. It felt strange to be wearing another team's jersey and looking in the mirror she didn't recognize herself right away. The color played off her hair differently than the scarlet of her old school.<p>

Still lying across the back of her desk chair was her white away jersey and she rolled it up and shoved it into her backpack before slinging the bag over her shoulder. She made her way down to the kitchen to find that it was in its usual state of pre-school chaos as all of the students scrambled to get something to eat without being late. She grinned as a plate was slid her way with toast and bacon already on it and she gave Sam a grateful smile in return.

"So, Al," Bobby said as he sat down next to Sam and began to munch on his toast. "Who's going to wear your jersey?"

She raised an eyebrow at him and picked up her bacon. "I don't know." This had always been a conundrum at her old school too. Being the only female football player there had always been speculation as to what she would do with the Friday football tradition. After a few weeks of avoiding the situation by not giving it to anyone, she'd finally settled on giving it to her best friend Kelly. Of course, giving it to another girl, even one who was dating the captain of the volleyball team, had created its own stir.

"Well, you should give it to a guy. You know, go with your rebelling against the gender expectations even more," Bobby suggested.

Allison chuckled and shook her head as she glanced down the table to locate the jam. "And I suppose you think that I should give it to you?" She reached out and nabbed the jam jar just before Kurt could and began to spread it over her toast. "I don't think so."

"Why not? We're friends, right?" Bobby gave her his best pair of puppy dog eyes and Allison rolled her own in return.

"We are," she said calmly as she held out the jam jar in an open palm as Kurt teleported to hang from the chandelier above her and grabbed it before Tabitha could. "But it sends the wrong message. Besides, I don't think Jubilee would like it much."

"Jubilee already got Sam's," Bobby sighed and looked up as his girlfriend walked into the kitchen sporting Sam's white jersey and the number '21'.

Allison turned her surprised gaze to Sam who could only shrug feebly. "She saw it last night an' took it without askin'."

Allison just burst into laughter and covered her mouth with her hands trying to stifle the noise before she drew too much attention to herself. "You're jealous," she accused of Bobby who turned bright red. "Look, I'd give it to you, but it'd be kinda small on you." She glanced around the kitchen and brightened when she saw Jamie. "Hey, Jamie, kiddo," she called waving him over and his head bobbed up from the task of smearing cream cheese over a bagel. As he walked around the table munching his breakfast, she dug into her back pack and pulled out her jersey and tossed it to him. "You want to wear this?"

His eyes went big as saucers as he caught the jersey. "Are you kidding?" he asked letting the number '11' unfurl. "I'll be the only sophomore who gets to wear one. Thanks!"

Allison turned to smile back at Bobby who groaned as he slid down in his seat. "Thanks for rubbing it in," he muttered as Sam patted him on the shoulder.

"Maybeh next time," Sam offered his condolences before looking up at Allison and smiled.

"And it wouldn't have been too small for me," Bobby muttered crossing his arms over his chest.

"Well, I was trying to imply that you were the bigger man," Allison said with a wink. "My mistake." She calmly finished eating her breakfast while Bobby glowered and pushed the food on his plate around listlessly. His mood was not at all improved by Jubilee's chatter about looking forward to the football game and how she was going to be there to cheer for Sam and Allison.

* * *

><p>Sam sighed as he stood up and dumped his math book into his backpack with a groan. He was berating himself for not realizing that there would be a quiz. How in the world he thought that he'd get through a full week of school without a single math quiz was beyond him. He was one of the last students to leave the classroom, his feet dragging with pent up frustration from not even making it halfway through the quiz. "Mister Guthrie, I'd like you to stay for a moment."<p>

He sunk down into one of the front row desks and let out another low groan as he watched the last of his classmates slip out the door. He had been looking forward to getting back to homeroom for the study break so that he could firstly put math class behind him and secondly see if there was any way of improving Bobby's mood after this morning. He actually was starting to feel bad for letting Jubilee make off with his jersey. Especially since it was starting to create more than a little confusion about whom he actually was dating. He wasn't worried about Allison, just Bobby.

Mr. Boltson walked out around his desk and leaned back against it casually as he looked down at Sam and sighed. "I know that math isn't your strongest subject."

"That's puttin' it lightly," Sam said lifting his gaze to look up at his teacher. "Ah promise, Ah'll try harder."

"That's why I asked one of my senior students if she would be willing to tutor you. She seems pretty gifted with math and I think with a little extra effort on your part, you'll be able to keep up." Sam's jaw clenched at the thought of being forced to essentially double his math period. It was especially not helpful to have it rubbed in that someone else was gifted while he was obviously challenged. Mr. Boltson glanced down at his watch and frowned before glancing at the still open door. "She should be here soon. So, just be patient and maybe try some of the homework while you wait."

When Mr. Boltson left to go take his turn at lunch duty Sam contemplated making a run for it before whatever brown-noser Boltson had dug up could get there. Instead, he reached down into his backpack and pulled out his math book and a notebook as he made a bare attempt at his homework. The bell came and went and the din of noise in the hallway fell silent as everyone was either in their homerooms or in the cafeteria. He was still staring at the words that made up his first homework problem when he became aware of the sound of pounding feet and looked up to see Allison leaning against the door frame. Her brows shot up in surprise as she held a hand over her heart and breathed in deeply. "Sam?"

"What are ya doin' here?" he asked sitting up straight and hurriedly trying to cover up his lack of progress on the blank sheet of notebook paper. It was bad enough that there were some days were he couldn't help but trip over his own feet in front of her, but this was beyond embarrassing even for him.

"Mr. Boltson asked me to tutor someone during study period," she replied walking into the room and shut the door behind her. "I didn't think it was you or I would have been helping you out before now. Damn. Sorry."

Sam just sighed as he slouched into the chair even further than he'd managed before. He looked at her sideways between his fingers as he rested a hand over his face and she pulled a desk around so that she was sitting beside him. She reached over and gently turned his text book around so that she could read it right side up and flipped the cover closed before quickly reopening it to the page he'd been on. "FST. Not one of my faves either," she commented before looking up to see that his expression hadn't changed much. Finally she smiled and then did close his text book and took it away from him completely, turning to set it aside on a desk on the other side of her. "There. Much better."

Sam finally lowered his hand and just stared at her. "Ah'm not sure how that's gonna help meh in the long run."

"It doesn't," she replied with a shrug. "I bet it really helps right now though, right?"

"Ya don' need ta help meh," Sam said still flustered about Boltson's choice of a tutor for him.

"No, I don't. But I want to. But not right now. We have all weekend," she said with a wave of her hand. "For the good of the team, I'm not going to let frustration eat away at our star running back."

"Jus' fo' the good of the team, huh?" he asked raising an eyebrow and she laughed.

She leaned her head into her hand and smirked at him "Fine, I'm not just doing it for the sake of a football game," she replied. "I'm doing it because I can personally think of a t least a hundred things I'd rather be doing with you than talk about math. Granted, I enjoy pretty much everything I do with you, so math isn't terribly far off that list."

Sam's eyes widened for a moment before he laughed and shook his head. "A hundred things, huh? Ah think Ah'd like ta hear that list."

"I bet you would," she said in return. "But I can almost guarantee at least a quarter of that list would result in flooding conditions. Actually just talking about them would probably do that. So, I'm going to have to settle for something a little less exciting in the meantime."

"Like?"

"Sneaking onto the roof of the school?"

Sam stood up and picked his backpack up off the floor and Allison did the same. She turned, retrieving his textbook from where she'd discarded it theatrically and returned it to him so he could put it away as he crossed the room to the windows. He opened one, pushing up the screen and leaned out looking to see if there were any students eating lunch outside near the stadium and track. "Looks clear ta meh," he said waving for her to come over.

Allison leaned out the window beside him and sucked in her breath a little as she saw how high they were and how much further up the roof was. Sam wrapped his arms around her waist tightly and she squeaked in surprise at his sudden grasp and before she could react further, he'd shot them both out through the window. He turned sharply before they got too far out from the building and landed them easily on the roof, Allison's mouth still slack and her breathing coming hard and fast. "Maybe next time you should warn me," she said after a few moments as he laughed at her.

He tossed his bookbag aside, it skidding across the loose stones and sand that covered the roof. "If Ah'd done that, ya'd fight meh. Ah didn' wanna take any chances that ya'd chicken out." He turned to look back at her still grinning broadly and only slightly sobered when he saw that she was looking a little more than hurt.

"I am not a chicken," she said coming out of her state of shock as she crossed her arms over her chest. "How could you accuse me of that?"

He waved his hands defensively in front of him before settling down to sit on the roof, his legs spread wide as he leaned back on his hands and basked in the late summer sun. She hesitated before letting her backpack drop causing some of the gravel to skitter before she slowly lowered herself to sit next to him. "Ah don' think yo' a coward," he clarified. "Ah jus' think flyin' scares the livin' daylights outta ya." He turned to look at her and smiled easily as she found herself having a difficult time being mad at him.

She just gave him an amusingly disgruntled look before sighing and scooting over so that they were hip to hip as she drew her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. "You ever miss home?" she asked after a while of tracing her fingers through the sandy surface.

"Every now an' then," he admitted. "Ah grew up with nine brothers an' sisters so livin' at the institute feels a lot like home most days. Ah mostly miss the routine of livin' on a farm though. Instead of gettin' up ta milk cows or feet the pigs, Ah'm gettin' up ta run 'round the Danger Room," he said laughing.

"I'm still trying to get used those really early mornings," Allison sighed. "I bet as soon as I do leave, I'll never, ever get up that early again. Nothing could possess me to choose to be up at five am."

Sam laughed at her obstinate attitude. "Ah swear yo'll get used ta it. An' then yo'll have trouble sleepin' in on the weekends.

"Oh, no, I won't," she replied shaking her head. "I love sleep. Sleeping is probably my favorite thing right after playing sports. For instance, I could sleep right now," she joked as she leaned her head down onto his shoulder before playfully kneading it with her hands. "Even on a pillow as lumpy as this one."

He played along, batting her hands aside and she glanced up at him through her eyelashes to see that he was smiling down at her. "Ah ain't lumpy," he said and she smiled broadly.

"Well, you're certainly not fluffy," she corrected as she hugged him loosely around the waist.

"Ah didn' realize that was yo' preference. Ah suppose given enough time Ah could fix that."

"Oh no," she murmured shaking her head slightly. "I wouldn't change a thing about you. I was joking. And I really don't have a preference one way or another. But in the long run, healthy is probably better."

"So ya don' care that Ah'm not as ripped as..."

"Piotr?" she finished. "Absolutely not. I actually think I'm intimidated by that. I'm surprised Kitty's not, but I guess that's a case of opposites attract." She sat up a little straighter and turned so that she was facing him as she gently pushed him down to lie on his back as she pressed her hand on the center of his chest. He complied curious as to where she was going with this as she leaned down and placed a brief kiss on his lips. The kiss had been just enough distraction for him to not realize right away that she was gently tracing the outlines of his muscles. "Besides, you're ripped," she teased as her fingers ran over his abs. "Don't think I haven't noticed all those afternoons by the pool."

"An' yo' beautiful," he said in return causing her to blush intensely as she drew back from him even more. He quickly pushed himself back up to sit so that he could maintain their close eye contact as he brushed his hands off on his jeans, dusting away the gravel before reaching up to hold the back of her neck in his hand.

She just lowered her gaze instead as her cheeks continued to darken. "Don't," she murmured.

"Why not?" he asked causing her gaze to flicker up to meet his. "Ah meant it. Why shouldn' Ah say it?"

"'Cause I'm not all cutesy or a girly-girl," she said with a weak shrug of her shoulders.

"Ah didn' say ya were. Ah said ya were beautiful. An' believe meh, there's a difference," he replied remembering how shortly after she'd arrived at the institute, Ray had made a similar, yet cruder, declaration. At the time, he'd been too embarrassed to admit it himself but he'd noticed it too. It was probably a good part of the reason why he found her so attractive. She was different from the other girls. And it wasn't just the physical attributes that Ray had hit upon. For a girl who'd grown up in the middle of nowhere as she called it, she had a worldliness, a strength, a confidence about her that could put even Miss Frost to shame. Things didn't phase her the same way as they did the others and she'd demonstrated that on more than one occasion whether it was taking on the whole cafeteria or standing up for herself on the football field because it's what she loved to do and she wouldn't let anyone tell her no.

Her eyes were widening as she gazed at him and finally she forced herself to turn away from his hold and gently shook her head. "Sorry, I just need a moment."

Sam didn't give it to her as he took her head in both of his hands and brusquely kissed her. She immediately gave in and it wasn't until the first drops started to fall that she started to fight him, pushing against his chest until she had managed to break the kiss and it wasn't until she'd fallen backwards, her head connecting with the gravel as she grunted, that the rain stopped. She winced, more so from the annoyance of all the small pinpricks that were staggered across the back of her skull than from the force. She reached to the back of her head, slowly running her fingers through her hair and brushing out the gravel as she rolled onto her side before sitting up. She closed her eyes as she tried to fight off the dizziness that threatened for a moment and could feel his arms around her shoulders as he held her upright. She sharply inhaled before slowly letting the breath back out as she turned to look at him over her shoulder. "I'm sorry," she said shaking her head slowly. "that was one of those things on my list I was hoping to put off until later."

He nodded in understanding even as he frowned slightly. "Ah'm the one who should be sorry," he said brushing his hand down over her back to remove more of the gravel and sand that didn't want to let go. "Ah guess Ah have a hard time not seizing on those moments, huh?"

"That you do," she sighed as she gave him a warm smile that told him she wasn't upset not by a long shot. "And the problem is, I want you to, perhaps a little too much."

"Ah think that might be one'a the best compliments Ah've gotten in a while," he said grinning broadly as he hugged her tightly around her shoulders for a brief moment.

"Wait, getting compared to Iron Man in front of the whole school wasn't a compliment?" she asked raising an eyebrow.

"Eh..." he said with a one-shouldered shrug, "Closer ta embarrassing." She spun around quickly and punched him in the shoulder before he could react causing him to fall onto his back as she tackled him and he laughed before rolling over on top of her. "Say, 'Uncle'."

"No," she answered shaking her head as she joined in his laughter.

"Say 'Uncle' or Ah'll kiss ya 'gain."

"Not much of a threat," she retorted looking up at him and feeling a flutter in her stomach as she watched him lean down to close the gap between them. She closed her eyes just before his lips touched hers and was a brief, chaste kiss.

He parted, standing up before offering her a hand to help her back to her feet as well. "Come on, before yo' friends start ta wonder why ya ain't comin' ta lunch." She felt dizzy on her feet, her head couldn't stop spinning as she pressed a hand to her temple. Even such a small kiss had left her powers pushing against her for a chance to break free. Granted perhaps it wasn't so small with all the other things that had led up to it. After a moment, the feeling passed, although she half wished it hadn't because Sam had grabbed their bags and tossed her over his shoulder in a fireman carry to take her back down to the ground.

* * *

><p>Due to her 'special' circumstances, Allison had to get to the game far earlier than any other player, cheerleader, or band member. If it wasn't for the fact that it was deemed inappropriate, she would have changed at home and put the pads on at the side of the field. Instead, she got to spend an extra half hour before the game wearing her full gear while she waited for the rest of her teammates to get dressed. What was normally the girls' locker room was being reserved for the opposing team.<p>

It was an annoyance, but one she'd already had a year to get used to. She was well prepared for the fact that she would need a second combination lock and set of toiletries in order to stake out locker reality in the boys' locker room.

She sat on the bench and watched as the band was warming up behind the bleachers knowing that Sandra and Patricia were both back there with their trumpet and clarinet respectively. Rose and Kaitlyn had promised to be in attendance too and Rose had ecstatically told her that Jonathon had accepted her invitation to join them. Her teammates were now coming out of the locker room's back door in a steady stream as they jogged towards the field under the drill commander tone of the head coach.

She stood, holding her helmet against her hip as she watched them come onto the field and quickly jogged out to join them as they settled into a circle around the team captains for their stretches. She squeezed in next to Sam and shot him a wink as they set aside their helmets and sat down on the ground. "Who gave you a ride?" she hissed as they both mimicked the captains and reached forward between outstretched legs.

"Kitty," he replied with a small shudder. "Desperate times, desperate measures."

Allison snuck a glance back over her shoulder to see that Kitty, Piotr, Kurt, and his girlfriend, Amanda, were hanging out near the fence waiting to be allowed in to the stadium. She offered him an apologetic smile as they shifted now reaching for their right toes. "Sorry."

"Next time Ah'll jus' go with you an' wait it out. Safer that way," he said as they changed to reach for their left foot. She watched as he easily wrapped his hand around his cleat despite how long his legs were.

They fell into a silence through the rest of warm ups and were soon headed back to the locker room as the field was given over to the visiting team. There were a few disgruntled looks as she followed the boys into the locker room for the pregame peptalk and she couldn't tell if it was because they still hadn't come to terms with the fact that she was a starter or because they still viewed this as a female intrusion on a male holy ground. Either way, she didn't care.

She squatted down, her knee balancing on her helmet as they formed a multi-rowed semi-circle around the coaching staff. There was a lot of hooplah about defeating their long time rivals that neither Sam nor Allison could really get behind but they cheered all the same at all the right times in order to blend in, even as Sam would shoot her occasional eye roll causing her to smile in response. Apparently, Bayville and Richland had been rivals since before their coaches had even been born. Allison wondered if that meant they'd been rivals since before football too.

The starting lines were finally announced and Allison clapped Sam on the shoulder when his name was called amongst the offensive and some of the specialty teams. Allison was on mostly just specialty teams which ran the par for the course.

The speech was well timed though because by the time it broke up, she could hear the crowd outside roaring with the cheerleaders provocation. They exited the locker room in relatively orderly fashion before breaking into a run as they headed to the field, the captains leading the charge through a five by ten foot banner being held up by some of the cheerleading squad. Allison and Sam were nearly last onto the field and they glanced up to see that the other students from the institute were relatively clustered in the front corner of the bleachers with some of their instructors. The other corner held the marching band and Allison spotted her new friends in the back row as Rose, Kaitlyn and a boy Allison could only assume to be Jonathon were attempting to blend in by hiding behind some of the larger brass instruments. She waved to both groups as Sam found them a place on the bench while they waited for the captains to go out, shake hands, and flip the coin to determine who would get first possession.

Richland won the toss and chose to receive so Allison was on the field immediately. Sam was there too. They'd run the play a few times in practice and if the kick hung in the air long enough, Sam was fast enough to force a touchback.

Allison took a deep breath and shook her hands to try and release the jitters before taking a practice kick. She let her eyes run down the line of players and with one more deep breath that she held, she took the few running steps before sending the ball flying down to the other end of the field. It came down in their endzone into the waiting arms of their receiver who started to run before he realized that Bayville's defensive line was already bearing down on him.

Sam managed to side step an offensive line man and took a running jump at the receiver's legs and brought him down at the ten yard line and there was thunderous applause from the home team's bleachers. He quickly disentangled himself and turned to see that there was a slender hand being held out to help him back up to his feet. He took it and stood up to see Allison grinning at him through her helmet face guard and he could feel his own smile growing. "Nice goin'," she said clapping him across the shoulders before they both ran off the field waiting for their next plays.

* * *

><p>"Sam? You still out here?" Allison came out of the locker room to find that most of the field had gone dark now that the fans had all gone home for the evening. She heaved her bag up onto her shoulder and hugged herself against what had turned out to be a cool evening. There didn't look to be a single soul around as she gave the area a glancing over. She contemplated going out by the field just to double check or just go straight to her truck. He could have easily gotten a ride home with just about any of their classmates.<p>

In the distance, she could hear the car horns still blasting as the city was still celebrating its victory over Richland by an astounding score of 35 to 10. Sam had picked up two touchdowns and run for two hundred yards. There was no way that Sam would be benched in favor of a senior anytime soon. She herself had played decently, nothing extraordinary, unless you counted scaring the bejesus out of a few of her tacklers when they realized she was a girl.

She cut across the grass towards the field and paused when she saw a brief flare of light before it just as quickly died again. Then there was a second flash as she stood silently, waiting to see if it had been a figment of her imagination. She ducked under the end of the bleachers and bent her head low to avoid the cross beams as she headed towards the intermittent flares. "Well, if it isn't one of the X-Geeks," a grainy voice teased.

"And he's all alone, Mate." There was another flicker of light and Allison could just barely make out the three figures amongst the braces of the bleachers.

"Whattaya want?" the third person asked and Allison straightened in her surprise to recognize Sam's voice and she barely missed a cross beam.

"Just wanted to ask about good friend, Boom-Boom. The sheila hasn't been home in a while. We figured she'd decided to start shacking up with you all again."

"So what if she is?" Sam asked and one of the figures went to move and was roughly shoved back against the bracing causing the entire structure to tremble.

"You can quit the tough act. I'd suggest it for your health, Mate. You're not so invulnerable when you're not moving." There was another flicker and this time the light held, growing and illuminating the three figures to reveal Sam as he leaned back against the bracing where he'd been thrown while a gangly teen with a hunched back and a red headed boy stood over him.

Allison set her bag down quietly and melted herself down into a puddle moving along the ground until she was just in front of Sam. The three boys stared in wonder as the puddle at their feet swirled and then began to rise like a snake, winding about Sam's legs and the barely recognizable form of a girl became evident as Allison partially solidified herself forming a watery shield in front of Sam. The flames flickered and died against her and let out a burbling laugh.

"Ghost!" the one cried before dropping onto all fours and bound away as quickly as he could, up, over, and under the beams as he bolted.

The other one had a little more sense and wits about him and the fireball he'd created grew vastly in size and warped into the shape of a dragon. The flaming dragon blew more fire from it's mouth at Allison and Sam but it just sizzled against her and died. Allison stretched herself out and threw herself like a blanket over the dragon and in a great amount of sizzling noise and steam, the dragon disappeared as Allison nimbly landed on solid feet and stood up again. As she faced the red head, the steam in the air pulled itself towards her as she continued to become more and more solid. "And who might you be, Sheila?"

"You can call me Hydra," she replied crossing her arms over her chest. "And that was a nice pyrotechnic display there yourself. But you're going to have to do a hell of a lot more than that when you're facing me. So might I suggest that you save the bravado for another day? Scram," she ordered shooting her eyebrows up and he stepped backwards tripping over a low beam and fell onto his back. He scrambled up, shot her a backwards glance before disappearing into the dark. She turned back to look at Sam who was patting himself down quickly as if shocked to not be singed. "Are you okay?" she asked and he looked back up at her in surprise.

"Yeah. Thanks. How'd ya do that?"

Allison just shrugged as she leaned over and picked up his gear bag and handed it back to him. "I took a gamble that water couldn't burn...and that the fire wouldn't be able to just blast right through me either."

"Y-ya took a gamble?" In the darkness, Allison couldn't make out his exact reaction but she had a good feeling that he probably didn't look pleased.

"What? You think I was certain before I jumped in there? Hell no," she said ducking under a beam as they walked back to where she'd left her own bag behind. "I just wasn't gonna let you get bar-b-qued," she said with a shrug before slinging her own bag over her shoulder. "So why were they talking about Tabby anyway?"

"Tabby used ta be at the institute fo' a while an' then decided that she didn' like havin' ta live by the rules, so she moved in with the Brotherhood. Guess she finally decided we were the better choice in the long run."

"I don't think I blame her if those are the creeps she's been living with."

Sam shrugged. "Toad's pretty pathetic actually. Ah mean, ya saw fo' yo'self there. John's a bit crazy but seems ta meh he's scared of somethin'. He don' normally go pickin' a fight unless there's someone pushin' 'im inta the ring."

"So I wonder what the big push was?" Allison mused as they walked out to the mostly empty parking lot. There were still some kids hanging around by their cars, but they were few and far between. She caught Sam's gaze over the truck bed and held it for a few moments causing her to blush as she tossed her gear in. "You wanna go do something?" she asked. "We might still be able to catch a movie or maybe grab a bite somewhere."

"Sure," he said with a shrug as he climbed into the cab. Allison followed suit and started up the engine. "Ah know a pretty good diner not far from here," he suggested and Allison nodded as he started to give her the driving directions.

They pulled up outside of a 24/7 diner and Allison parked near the door so they had a relatively short walk into the nearly empty diner. They seated themselves at a booth across from one another and pulled the menus that were tucked behind the napkin dispenser. They ordered burgers, fries and cokes from a middle-aged waitress and Allison leaned back in her seat, playing with her straw wrapper. "Does this stuff happen often?" she asked breaking the silence.

"What stuff?" Sam asked raising his eyebrows.

"The confrontations. And if you're right about John being pushed, then there's something bigger to it than them being pissed on Tabby ducking out on her share of the rent." Her straw wrapper tore and she frowned before setting the pieces down and picking up her drink instead. "Maybe we should ask her why she left?"

Sam looked thoughtful for a moment, studying the fizzing bubbles of his drink as if divining a response from that. "We'll ask, okay? But there ain't no use in worryin' 'bout it now. Ah'm pretty sure John's not gonna mess with ya fo' a while now."

Allison gave him a weak smile in return and nodded. "Sorry, I'm just trying to get used to it all. I mean, I learned that I'm a mutant only a few weeks ago, and now I'm learning that it's going to put me into a lot of fights whether I go looking for them or not. There should be a scorecard to keep track of who's who."

"Ya don' have ta fight," Sam said leaning forward onto his crossed arms that were braced along the edge of the table. "Nobody wants ya ta feel that way. The whole point of trainin' is ta help ya control yo' powers as well as prepare ya fo' the absolute worst. Yo' new here anyway, so s'really unlikely that the professor would even ask ya if ya wanted ta fight. Ah rarely e'er get asked mahself. So don' worry, okay?" Allison nodded again and Sam let out a sigh before slowly standing up and switching sides of the booth so that they were sitting hip to hip as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Look, Ah'm sorry that ya even felt like ya needed ta step in tanight. Ah coulda handled those guys if it came down ta it."

"I'm not upset about tonight," Allison explained. "I'm worried about all the other times it could escalate into something worse."


	15. Phone Calls, Dates, and Dangers

**FYI:** I don't own the X-Men. Unless owning a copy of the comic book counts? Does it? Really? No? Damn. Fine! I own Allison. Take that Marvel!

**Authors Note: **There's just something about making a fluff sandwich that's oh, so delicious. Especially when it comes with a side of foreshadowing. I mean, they're super low calorie compared to potato chips!**  
><strong>

**Chapter 15: Phone Calls, Dates, and Dangers (in no particular order)  
><strong>

* * *

><p>Sinister smirked, his pointed teeth showing between thin lips and Mystique forced herself to not react to his childish fear tactics. "We need to test her. Both of them really. I need you to create an opportunity to test my theory."<p>

"What about Summers? And Grey?" Mystique questioned and Sinister stood quickly and stepped back slightly as he approached.

"For now, we forget them. Our opportunity on these other two may be limited. I need to act before either becomes too dedicated to the X-Men. It would be much easier if they come to me willingly."

"Of course," Mystique agreed as she bowed and walked away. The wheels were already turning in her head as to how she would fulfill the promise she'd made. She'd been watching them from a distance now for a little while. Both targets seemed quite happy to stay at the institute and showed no inclination of leaving anytime soon. There weren't even any chinks in their friendships or relationships that she could use as a wedge to drive them away in the next pair of open arms that offered sanctuary.

The other problem she faced was actually getting these particular mutants out into the field. Xavier had them in a reserve team and she would have to time it perfectly with another threat in order to get both teams out at once and to get the team she wanted.

But it made her curious to see if Sinister would be right about this other pair or mutants that he swore held far more promise than Summers and Grey. Mystique had already seen just a small amount of Grey's enormous powers so she was finding it hard to believe that another mutant would be able to dwarf her.

But Sinister wholeheartedly believed that they both had the potential to be Omega level mutants as well as possibly Externals. It was the lure of the latter that drew him most and if that were true, then it would certainly make them far more valuable. Especially if Sinister could successfully use their DNA to make even more powerful mutants.

* * *

><p>Allison had just managed to shoo Kitty off as she was finishing up getting ready for her date night with Sam. He'd refused to tell her what he'd planned and Kitty had insisted that if she dressed well enough that it wouldn't matter what he did have in mind. It didn't matter to Kitty that they were seventeen and that Allison would be lucky if Sam had enough foresight to plan both dinner and a movie. She also thought that Kitty just enjoyed taking every opportunity she could to dress Allison up considering that Kitty had made nightly visits a ritual in order to take a peek at what she'd laid out to wear to school the next morning.<p>

Allison stood in front of the bathroom sink and started to scrub off all the makeup she deemed to be in excess and then had to start reapplying some of the basics like foundation in order to even out her skin tone since the washing had made it raw and red. She sighed as she set aside the foundation brush which she'd just been properly instructed on the proper use of and looked up into the mirror. She was pleased to see that she didn't look all that much different than she would on any other day. She hated how dressing up usually translated into looking like someone else.

Her cell phone began to ring as she was about to let her hair back down so that she could throw it into a simple ponytail instead of the half up, half down hair-do that Kitty had constructed from her curls. She turned leaving the bathroom as she flicked off the light and grabbed up her cell from her bed before flopping down as she flipped open the phone to see that it was her mom who was calling. It was strange that she'd call on a Saturday night when normally she only called on the weeknights so as to avoid interrupting Allison's weekend plans. "Hey."

_"Sweetie? It's Mom."_

"I know. It's called caller ID," Allison teased as she rolled her eyes. Her mother was still getting adjusted to changing technology.

_"Please, be serious. It's important."_

Allison bolted straight up in bed as she switched the hand holding the phone. "Is it Gram? Is she okay? I'll get in the truck right now. I could be there in like six hours. Which hospital is she in?" The words came tumbling out as Allison's fear was realized.

_"It's not your grandmother...exactly,"_ came the reply after Allison paused for a breath.

"Then what is it exactly?"

_"Your father went to see her today. We've moved since he was last in contact so he only knew where to find your grandmother."_

Allison leaned back against the headboard of her bed and groaned softly. "Did anything happen? Did he hurt her? Is she okay?"

_"She's fine,"_ came the far too abrupt answer. Allison knew her mother far too well to know when she was attempting to hide something.

"Are you okay?" Allison asked.

_"I'll be fine. It's just a bruise."_

Allison let loose a growl that would have made even Logan proud as she clenched her free hand into a fist. "I hope you called the cops on him," she muttered. She remembered that when she was little her father would get drunk and beat her mother on occasion. It's why her mother had left him and taken Allison to move to Pennsylvania and be closer to her grandparents. Allison had been fortunate that he'd never laid a hand on her, but her mother wasn't going to take that chance.

_"We didn't get a chance,"_ her mother sighed on the far end. _"He left town again pretty quickly."_

"Why was he even there?" Allison asked running a hand back over her hair and was slightly startled when there was a knock on her bedroom door. She didn't answer it though as she waited for her mother's reply.

_"He was looking for you, Sweetie. Apparently he got it in his head that he wanted to visit you."_

"You didn't tell him where I was, did you?" she asked as the door opened and Sam hesitantly stuck his head inside and was surprised to see her sitting on her bed talking on the phone. He'd expected to find the room either empty or Kitty unconscious and tied up after a botched attempt to control Allison's wardrobe for the evening.

_"No. But your grandmother found a pamphlet for your school lying out on the table after we cleaned up a little. He might have seen it too."_

"Shit..."

_"I didn't raise you to talk like that, young lady."_

"Now's really not the time for a commentary on my choice of language," Allison muttered as she waved Sam inside the room and he came in closing the door quietly behind him.

_"Promise_ _me you'll be careful."_

"I'm always careful, Mom," Allison said exuding more confidence than she felt at the moment. Sam sat down on the end of her bed and was watching her carefully as she finished her conversation. "Look, I've got to go, Mom. I love you."

_"I love you too, Sweetie."_

Allison smiled softly as she closed the phone and laid it aside. "Hey," she said turning her attention to Sam who was still watching her curiously. He was wearing a pair of dark wash jeans with a light colored t-shirt and a long sleeve button up over that. Allison was surprised most of all by the fact that he'd apparently gotten a haircut since she'd seen him this morning. It was still long, but now hung about his ears and the shorter length resulted in it looking like a mess of loose curls. If it wasn't for the fact that she was pretty well distracted, she would have wanted to reach forward and touch it. Seeing him certainly helped to brighten her mood but she was coming off quite the damper.

"What was that about?" he asked.

"You always so nosy?" She pushed herself up to sit a little straighter before leaning in towards him slightly.

He didn't budge though as he continued to watch her, his eyes flickering over her as he took her in, reading her body language and noting that she was actually nervous despite the confidence she was trying put on. "Only when it sounds like somethin's wrong. An' that sounded like trouble."

"What gave it away?"

"Cursin' at yo' mom an' promisin' ta be careful in earnest. It ain't like ya."

"I'll keep that in mind for the future when I'm trying to be more deceptive," she sighed before leaning back into the pillows.

"Ya wanna tell meh 'bout it?" he asked as he shifted so that he was turned to face her better.

She rolled over onto her side, propping her head up as she stared at the wall to avoid his gaze. "I need you to promise me something first," she said glancing up at him. "Promise me that what I tell you won't leave this room. You'll never bring it up again and you won't breathe a word of it to anyone." He nodded in agreement and she took a deep breath. "My mom was calling to warn me that my dad may or may not decide to show up for some visitation time after all these years of not hearing a word from him. I told you before, he's a drunk. I'm just frustrated right now because he gets these whims in his head and acts on them like an idiot."

She sat up finally and swung her legs out over the side of the bed before pressing her hands to her knees as she leaned forward, hesitating for a moment. "Just remember, you promised not to mention this to anyone."

"Sure," Sam said slowly as he watched her stand up and blinked in surprise at her appearance. He hadn't been able to get a full appreciation of what she was wearing while she'd been sitting on the bed but now he could see that she was wearing a denim mini skirt with ankle boots and a pale blue top with a square neckline. Over top, she was wearing a three-quarter length sleeve jacket in cream colored leather that fell past the skirt in length and was vaguely styled like a duster. It took most of his will power to not wolf whistle but he did smirk as he imagined how Ray would react to Allison's long legs on display like this. "Do ya, uh, still wanna go out? We don' have ta," he managed to spit out without sounding too foolish as he did his best to keep his gaze above her neck as he looked up at her.

She turned her focus back to him and smiled as she nodded. "I would very much like to get out of here and get my mind on something, anything else."

He stood up and crossed the room, holding open the door for her. She gave him a nervous smile as she passed through the doorway and he jogged to catch back up to her as he let the door swing shut by itself. "So Ah know it's impossible ta surprise ya if yo' drivin', so Ah figured Ah'd tell ya ahead'a time what Ah had in mind fo' the night."

"Shoot," she said glancing up at him sideways as they walked practically shoulder to shoulder down the hall.

"Figured we could try our hands at laser tag. There's an arena in town."

"Wouldn't that be like the Danger Room but on, you know, the easiest setting?" she asked laughing as he nodded.

"Ah figured that'd be half the fun," he said with a wink. "An' besides, it won' actually hurt ta get hit by these lasers."

She leaned in and kissed him quickly on lips and smiled. "It sounds like a blast," she said. "You're a genius."

* * *

><p>Allison went up on the balls of her feet to hang her truck keys back up on the peg board above Logan's work bench and slowly eased herself back down. She smiled as she turned to face Sam who was still leaning back against the front fender of the truck, his hands buried in his pockets. "Thank you."<p>

"Fo'?"

"Giving me the perfect night," she answered as they walked out of the garage and into the cool evening air.

She laughed and shook her head lightly as a thought occurred to her and Sam watched her in amusement. "What now?"

"I was just thinking. The only way this night could be any more perfect was if you kissed me goodnight on the doorstep. But that seems pretty silly when we both live here, huh?"

They paused still halfway between the garage and the front door and Sam started to chuckle too. "Ah could kiss ya outside yo' bedroom if ya wanted," he suggested brushing her hair back behind her ear.

"I think that'd be a really bad idea," she admitted blushing. "I'm not so sure I'm indoor kissing friendly. At least, not yet."

"Then 's a good thing Ah didn' mean that door," he said before quickly scooping her up in his arms and she squealed as he took off into the air. He landed them on the balcony outside her bedroom and she swallowed hard to cut of the sound of her own panicked voice as he tipped her back onto her own feet.

He laughed at her reaction as he always did and she hit his chest as she pouted and turned her back to him. "It's not funny."

"Ah'm sorry," he said wrapping his arms around her from behind and rested his chin on her shoulder. "Ah can't help it. Yo' always so serious an' brave that 's cute ta occasionally see that other side."

Shivers went down her spine at the sensation of his breath tickling at her ear and neck and she glanced at him sideways to see that he was being at least somewhat serious. He kissed the side of her neck and she closed her eyes to relish in the feeling of his warm breath and lips against her skin. He turned her easily in his arms, one hand bracing the back of her neck as he kissed her jawline, causing her head to tilt back as she sighed. "Sam?"

"Hmm?" He pulled away slowly gazing down at her as her green eyes fluttered open as she brought her head up straight again.

"If you don't kiss me soon, it's going to start raining anyway." She swallowed as she looked up into his clear blue eyes and watched the smirk grow across his face.

"If Ah've told ya once, Ah'll tell ya a million times, let it." His lips had barely connected with hers before the first drops began to fall and they increasingly grew harder and faster as their kiss went on. He slowly walked her backwards until she'd bumped into the wall and she gasped in surprise and he took the chance to deepen the kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck holding him close as she ran her fingers through his now shorter hair, finding there was still plenty of length there to wind the strands around her fingers.

They parted, equally breathing hard, and she could feel his gaze piercing through her as his eyes searched her face, taking her in as small rivers of water ran down from her hairline to disappear into the collar of her shirt and jacket. She let her own gaze lower slightly as she let one of her hands slide down over his soaked shirt and admired the way that it clung to his chest. She could only imagine how her own wet clothes hung right now. She blushed as she looked up at his face again to see that he was wearing a boyish grin that clearly gave away that he'd been admiring a lot more than just her face.

The rain was beginning to ebb as they stood there, pressed against the wall, his hands on either side of her head. "G'night, beautiful" he said softly before leaning in and kissed her gently on the lips.

"Good night, my handsome prince," she replied a smile tugging up on her lips.

His eyebrows shot up in amusement as he slowly stepped back. "Ah'm a prince now?" he joked. "What happened ta bein' yo' superhero?"

"You're that too," she said stepping away from the wall and towards him before kissing him quickly. "Sweet dreams." She turned smiling back at him over her shoulder as she let herself into her bedroom through the balcony door. He could just make out her silhouette through the white curtains as she hung up her jacket and sat down at her desk and took off her boots.

He took a few quick steps and shot up into the air and flew over the top of the roof and landed on the balcony outside of his own room and walked inside. Bobby sat up startled that Sam came in through the wrong door and then blinked when he saw his appearance. "What the hell happened to you? Did you walk in front of an open fire hydrant or what?"

Sam shrugged as he turned his back to Bobby trying to hide the grin he couldn't manage to wipe off his face. "Nah. Nothin' like that."

"So what then? Last I checked they weren't calling for rain tonight." Bobby discarded his magazine figuring that whatever Sam was holding back on had to be far more interesting than college football predictions.

Sam peeled off his button down shirt and draped it over the edge of his laundry basket as the shirt continued to drip. If he stood still much longer, he'd have a puddle at his feet. He quickly took off his t-shirt as well and it was just as soaked. "Ah jus' had a date with Al, that's all."

"And you went swimming in the bay?" Bobby asked still intensely curious.

Sam headed towards the bathroom with a pair of pajama bottoms in hand and rolled his eyes at Bobby's question. "No." The door closed and it was a few minutes before Sam exited. He'd draped his jeans and boxers over the shower curtain rod and was coming back for his shirts to do the same.

"So, what gives?"

Sam snatched up the shirts and paused looking over at Bobby. "Can ya keep a secret?"

"It depends."

Sam let his eyes roll again as he walked back to the bathroom and flung the shirts up over the rod as well. All Bobby could hear was the sound of a wet slap as the material was slung about. Sam came back out and sat down on his bed and leaned back against the pillows before turning his head to look over at his friend. "Depends on what?"

"How juicy it is," Bobby replied smirking. "So what happened?"

"We kissed."

"You kissed?" Bobby echoed raising an eyebrow. "Were you kissing on the lawn when the sprinklers went off?"

Sam just shook his head. "When we kiss, it starts ta rain."

"Bull shit," Bobby called as he sat up and turned on his bed. "I saw her kiss that Mark guy and she didn't do shit."

Sam just shrugged in response. "Ah guess 's different with meh," he said and could feel his cheeks warming up. "She says she can't control it."

"This can't be the first time you kissed her, right? I mean, how come you're not soaking wet all the time?" Bobby asked after a few moments of thought.

"If 's quick, she's not affected by it as much. Or we make sure we're under some kind of cover-like the gazebo," Sam admitted. "Jus' don' tell Jubes 'bout this. Ah don' think Al wants ev'ryone ta know she's still tryin' ta fully control her powers."

"Well, I guess rain touch is better than zappy touch," Bobby joked. "I bet Remy would trade you places in a heartbeat." Sam just shrugged in response but realized that probably explained his nonchalance about the side effects of her abilities. Allison hadn't met Rogue yet in order to know that there were worse fates than a little rain.

* * *

><p>Allison walked into the living room and was a little surprised by how empty it felt for a Saturday. Normally it was louder than this as everyone jockeyed for position around the television or just for a more comfortable seat in general. But half of the students were gone today on some mission for the professor to Scotland. This left Logan and McCoy home alone with the younger students who for once weren't destroying the mansion. Threat of Logan's wrath was probably enough to keep things at bay.<p>

Sam was already in one of the understuffed armchairs, lying sideways across the arms and grinned when he saw Allison enter. He quickly spun around so that he was upright again and patted the space next to him as he did his best to make room for her on the seat. She sat down half in the chair and half on the arm until he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her to sit more on his lap causing her to laugh as they shared a brief smile. "So what are you boys up to? It's scary quiet."

"We were just about to start playing with Roberto's new copy of Madden football. You want in?" Jamie asked holding up one of the Playstation controllers and Allison waved her hands.

"No thanks, hon. I'm terrible at video games," she replied before making herself slightly more comfortable but also making sure that she wasn't in Sam's line of view or inhibiting his use of the controller either.

They were just finishing the first quarter when alarms were sounded throughout the mansion and Allison found herself to be quickly lifted up and set back down on her feet as Sam freed himself. The boys were off at a run and Allison found herself frozen to the spot for a moment before Jamie's hand found hers and pulled her along. "Come on," he urged as he led her towards the elevator where the other boys were climbing in along with Amara, Jubilee, Rhane, Dani, Tabitha and Sarah.

"What's going on?" Allison asked as the elevator began to go down and feeling a tad claustrophobic for the first time. Surely the elevator had to be over capacity as she was pressed tightly against the doors such that when the reopened, she found herself stumbling out into the hallway.

"Don' know," Sam replied as he took her hand this time and led her in a different direction than she'd ever gone before for Danger Room trainings. "This is jus' protocol fo' when the alarms go off. Ev'ryone reports ta what we call the War Room." Seeing her reaction he smiled. "That's not 's real name. 'S jus' what we call it. But if the mansion were ta be under attack, we'd be safe there."

She nodded numbly as they all filed into the room and waited for Logan or McCoy to arrive and tell them what was happening. There was a low console that went around the perimeter of the circular room and in the center was a table surrounded by chairs. The chairs had been snatched up quickly and so Allison remained leaning back against the low console facing the door.

Sam gave her a warm, reassuring smile as he wrapped his hand over hers and she returned it only halfheartedly in her nervousness. When Logan walked in, he dropped her hand and stood up straighter and Allison did the same. "We just found out that there's going to be an assassination attempt on Kelly this afternoon," Logan announced bluntly and all of the students just turned and looked at one another in shock. They all knew what this meant. The regular team was out already; Logan was asking for volunteers.

"Where's it supposed ta happen?" Sam asked breaking the silence that had fallen over the group.

"The warehouse district," Logan replied calmly. "He's there to give a speech to the dock workers. Not surprisingly, the Friends of Humanity are pretty prevalent among the payroll there."

"You've got to be kidding," Amara quipped. "We're going to try and help him? He a) won't want our help and b) we'll end up getting ourselves killed in the process."

"Nobody's making you go, Princess." Despite Logan's calm and lacking just about any inflection to his voice, 'Princess' didn't sound like a title or compliment coming from him and Amara recognized that as she crossed her arms tightly over her chest.

"Do we even know who's behind it?" Dani asked ignoring the tension in the air that had grown up like a dark cloud around Amara.

"We don't," McCoy said as he entered the room. His usually jovial mood was gone and replaced by a sobriety that would have made the pope look like a giddy school girl. "But we can't afford taking a chance that it will be blamed on mutants. It could very well spark a war."

"None of you have to go," Logan said finally stating what everyone already seemed to know. "A few volunteers would be nice though."

Sam stepped forward and Logan's expression quirked up into a brief smile as he nodded. Dani nearly leapt to her feet followed by Bobby, Jamie, Tabitha, Roberto, Jubilee, Ray, Rhane, and Sarah. Amara reluctantly stood up as well. Allison was the only person in the room who still hadn't reacted yet as she remained in the back of the group, leaning back on the console. Of course, all of the other students standing directly blocked her from view of McCoy and Logan.

Sam glanced back to see Allison's hesitation and smiled softly at her. "'S okay," he said. "Ya can stay here. We need someone here in case the others come back."

She was just staring at him and vaguely aware that Logan was speaking again. "Jamie, Sarah sit back down," Logan growled.

"Stop treating me like a little kid," Jamie argued.

"I'm not," Logan snapped. "You're good with the computers. Almost as good as Betsy or Kitty. I need you here." Jamie pouted but he sat back down and leaned his head against his hand muttering under his breath.

"What about me?" Sarah asked meekly as she sat back down realizing that there really wasn't an argument to be had.

"You _are_ too young," Logan sighed. "Keep Jamie company or something." Logan looked over the group of students still standing before him. "Nine. Good."

"Make that ten," Allison said stepping forward and Sam glanced sideways down at her and smiled in his surprise. "Even numbers are lucky."

Logan nodded and turned to look at Sam directly. "You're in charge, Bub. Plan your teams while you all get suited up." Dani's mouth dropped open soundlessly and she quickly snapped it shut before anyone could catch her reaction. It wasn't until Logan was halfway out the door that he added, "And Dani's second. Beast and I'll be around, but they're in charge. You keep in touch with them and listen to their commands unless Beast and I say otherwise."

It was Bobby's turn to look shocked as he turned to look at his roommate. Sam just looked like a nervous wreck that was about to fall apart at any second. "You?" Bobby said, the surprise hanging in his voice. "He picked you?"

Allison quickly reached over and squeezed Sam's hand realizing that this must be pretty high on the list of firsts for him. "You're going to be fine," Allison said encouragingly. "You've led us as a team in training lots of times."

"And so have I," Bobby pouted and Allison sighed as she glanced his way.

"And as long as I've been here, that usually doesn't end well. Maybe it's a hint."


End file.
